Guwahati: People in Guwahati fear delays in time-sensitive financial services, including loan processing, cheque clearance, cash deposits and document submission, with bank employees set to observe a three-day nationwide strike from Sept 28 to 30.Customers said the disruption would affect transactions requiring direct interaction with bank officials, beyond routine cash withdrawals and deposits. Loan applicants awaiting verification, sanction or disbursal could face delays if their files require branch-level processing during the strike.Kaustav Daimari, a Six Mile resident awaiting completion of a business loan process, said, “My documents have already been submitted and I am waiting for the loan to get sanctioned and disbursed. If the branch remains closed, even a small delay will affect the timeline.”Another customer, Ranjita Nath, said the KYC process for her bank account was still pending despite the submission of the required documents. “My bank account KYC is still pending and, despite completing the required formalities and submitting the necessary documents, it has not been done yet. This delay is causing unnecessary inconvenience, as the account cannot be fully utilized,” she said.Bank officials said customers would continue to have access to UPI, mobile and internet banking services, as well as ATMs, subject to normal technical functioning and cash availability.United Forum of Bank Unions, along with several unions representing public sector banks and regional rural banks, has called the strike to press for the implementation of a five-day banking week and withdrawal of changes to the Performance Linked Incentive (PLI) scheme.Narendra Nath Sarma, president of the northeastern branch of the Bank Employees’ Federation, said, “The first phase of the strike, which lasted for one day, has been completed. We would like to apologise to the people who have faced delays and inconvenience. However, our intention is to get our demands met, not to cause any harassment to the public.”
