GUWAHATI, March 9 - The 30th annual general meeting of SBIOA, North Eastern Circle was held today at the Gauhati Medical College Auditorium, Bhangagarh.
The programme kick-started with a solidarity march that started from the SBIOA office premises at Bhangagarh and culminated at the venue of the meeting. Around 500 members participated in the march.
The flag of the association was hoisted by circle president Dilip Kumar Roychoudhury in the presence of Soumya Datta, general secretary of All India Bank Officers� Confederation cum president of All India State Bank Officers� Federation amidst chanting of slogans.
Among others who were present on the occasion were Digmanu Gupta, General Manager Network-II SBI NE Circle; Ajay Kumar Singh, General Manager Network-I SBI NE Circle; Shatanjib Das, vice president AIIEA; Ravinder Gupta, senior vice president AISBOF; Shyamanta Konwar, DGS, SBISA (NEC) and LC Mahanta, joint secretary SBIPA (NEC).
The general secretary, SBIOA (NE Circle) in his welcome address gave a brief account of the present stage of the trade union movement in the country which is passing through a very critical phase withstanding one after another �attack� as an outcome of �apathy towards public sector organisations in general and the banking sector in particular�.
He said that the future of the PSBs is full of challenges and hence all should be alert, active and united to deal with this Emergency-like situation and overcome the challenges to ensure their survival.
Soumya Datta raised the issue of rising NPAs in public sector banks in general and State Bank of India in particular.
He attributed the menace to the wilful default by the corporate. He also deliberated on the government�s proposal of Turn Around Plan for the ten public sector weak banks and highlighted the reaction of the AIBOC to that, which forced the government to change their plan. He alleged that the government and the RBI are leaving no stone unturned in their attempt to merge and privatise the public sector banks on the pretext of non-performance and high NPAs. He insisted that the rising NPAs of the public sector banks are the outcome of the government�s pro-corporate and anti-public sector banks policies.
The open session was followed by the business session in which the general secretary submitted the secretarial report along with the statement of accounts of the association.
