Left asks govt to intervene to resolve SBI stand-off

New Delhi, Apr 8: Demanding immediate intervention of the Centre to resolve the deadlock over the ongoing strike by the State Bank of India (SBI) employees, the Left parties today said the government must review the present pension scheme and find an amicable settlement in consultation with the unions.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) and the CPI cautioned the government against adopting an adamant attitude saying over 200,000 employees would continue the strike until their demand was met.

The SBI employees are demanding revision of their pension scheme, which they say gives them only a ''depressed'' pension amount on retirement.

''It is incumbent upon the Government of India to immediately intervene and see that there is a settlement on the legitimate demands of the employees,'' said CPI-(M) Polit Bureau member M K Pandhe, who is also the President of the Centre of Indian Trade Unions.

Dr Pandhe said the government had agreed that the employees would get 50 per cent of the last salary drawn as pension. The new scheme would cost each employee between Rs 3,000 and Rs 6,000, he added.

''This is why the employees are angry as their post-retirement life would be affected if the government insists on imposing this scheme. The other bank employees totalling 10 lakh would also join the agitation,'' he said.

CPI General Secretary A B Bardhan said the government should negotiate in the right earnest without further delay.

''The pension scheme should be straightened and should be brought at par with the scheme prevalent in other nationalised banks,'' said CPI National Secretary Shamim Faizi.

UNI

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