Union Bank Of India — Discrepancies in execution of transfers/postings of erstwhile Andhra Bank staff domiciled or working at the seven states of N-E India

Address:

Assam

To
The MD & CEO
Union Bank of India
Corporate Office, Mumbai-21.

Discrepancies in execution of transfers/postings of erstwhile Andhra Bank staff domiciled or working at the seven states of N-E India

Respected Sir,

May I respectfully request a few minutes of your time amidst your hectic schedule to read a heartfelt cry for help from staff members of erstwhile Andhra Bank, now merged with Union Bank of India, a public sector bank head quartered at Nariman Point, Mumbai.

With folded hands we may submit before your highest authority that erstwhile Andhra Bank employees are striving their level best to provide continued banking services to the common people despite the numerous difficulties faced by them and in the process several bank employees have tested positive with COVID-19. The problem is much aggravated and painful for people hailing from the seven states of North-East India (Assam, Nagaland, Tripura, Meghalaya, Manipur, Arunachal Pradesh, Mizoram), as here due to lockdown and mandatory institutional/home quarantine measures in force, many of them are detached from their families for months. Train services to this region are infrequent and most of the seven states have mandated varied quarantine and self-isolation rules for air passengers travelling from other states to combat corona virus.
In some cases bank staffs have not been able to attend to their families in emergency situations and even during funeral and bereavement of near and dear ones. It is a very alarming situation but the responses from concerned departments or administrative offices of the concerned bank are inadequate.

Transfer requests of staff who are domicile of this N-E region, but are posted elsewhere in India, are kept pending for months by respective departments/verticals/controlling offices. Similar is the scenario for people from other parts of the country but posted at branches/offices of this region. They are often denied allowances mandated by Govt. of India for working in the region. The N-E region is being looked upon negatively with least priority. There have been several cases of rampant discrimination against the north-eastern community exhibiting institutional racism.

Request for leaves even in emergency are denied citing various frivolous reasons. Here employees are being asked to clock in extra hours due to pressure to sanction loans amid an economic slowdown aggravated by the pandemic. All these results in mental agony and harassment and interferes with a staff’s ability to discharge his/her duty. Improving work-life balance not only helps the staff members and their families, but it also makes a person a more productive employee.

All Union Bank of India employees are in panic mode and have become much perturbed due to the prevalent circumstances. In this background, there is an urgent need to give them some comfort in attending their duties, failing which it will be difficult to give uninterrupted services to the bank and its customers. Considering the hardship faced by banking staff while serving in N-E India, Government organizations like IBA and RBI from time to time have come up with circulars, necessitating relaxation in transfer policies for people domiciled or working in this part of the country. Moreover as per recent newspaper reports peer banks like SBI, PNB BOB etc are working expeditiously on transfer request applications to alleviate the woes of their staff in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Based on the above information we respectfully request you to kindly initiate a proper enquiry at the earliest about the pending transfer requests for staff members belonging and serving in this North-East region and take necessary action to rectify the various violations in the transfer policies of the concerned bank and Government of India. Staff members and their families of both erstwhile Andhra Bank and Union Bank of India will be eternally grateful for kind concern and timely intervention.

Thank you for your time and kind consideration. JAI HIND!!

Sincerely yours,

Gaurav Kumar
Takaipar, Danapur,
Patna - 801503