J&K Bank employees protest against treating it as PSU

Employees of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank staged a protest in Srinagar on Thursday demanding a rollback of the decision of Governor S P Malik-led state administrative council to treat the bank as a public sector undertaking.

Scores of employees of the bank assembled at its corporate headquarters on MA Road and staged a demonstration, under the banner of All India J-K Bank Officers Federation, to demand rollback of the SAC order.

"This protest, which is a peaceful demonstration as J-K Bank workforce is a peaceful workforce, is against the SAC decision. We demand that the SAC rollback its decision as soon as possible and we will not let this decision be implemented on the J-K Bank, Tassaduq Madni, president of the federation, told reporters.

Last week, the SAC approved the proposal for treating the J-K Bank Limited as a PSU, bringing it under the purview of the Right to Information Act, the Chief Vigilance Commissioner guidelines and the state legislature.

The SAC move has come under widespread criticism from mainstream political parties, separatists and business and trade organisations in the state.