The employees of various public sector banks, insurance companies and the Uttarakhand Transport Corporation continued their protest on the second day of the nationwide strike called by All India United Trade Union Centre on Thursday. Members of various unions took out a rally in the city raising slogans against Central and State Governments for not taking steps to meet their demands. Commuters faced difficulties as roadways buses remained off the roads till 5 pm in the State.

To avoid untoward incident, police had made elaborate arrangements by deploying adequate number of police personnel at different places including protest sites in the city.

The members of different organisations including ASHA workers, Anganwadi workers, hotel workers, All India Trade Union Congress, Bharatiya Majdoor Sangh and National Organistion of Bank Workers assembled participated in the rally called by Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU). CITU district general secretary lekhraj said their demands include urgent steps to control price rise, increasing remuneration of Anganwadi workers, ASHA workers, Bhojan Matas to Rs 10,000 per month, social net for workers in the unorganised sector and others.

He said that the union had received massive response to the strike as employees of different organisations in different towns protested by boycotting office work. Commuters experienced relief after 5 pm on Thursday, when roadways employees started operating the buses. Moreover, all the branches of public sector banks were closed, with employees demonstrating at different places. The transaction cash in the ATMs of different banks was adversely affected due to shortage of cash.

Canara Bank officials said that they had kept around Rs 15 lakh each in all the ATMs of the bank in the State to prevent public inconvenience during the strike. They claimed that there was no shortage of cash in their ATMs during the strike in the State.