Overburdened by a steady flow of work in the past one month after the demonetisation of high value currency notes, bank employees and income tax officers are now seeking some work-life balance.

Two separate associations representing these officers are now petitioning Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and the Reserve Bank of India to improve their working conditions.

“We have been working non-stop since November 8. It is not the fault of bank staff if the cash position is low, but they face constant harassment from angry customers,” said CH Venkatachalam, Chief, All India Bank Employees’ Association (AIBEA).

The Association plans to write to the RBI Governor Urjit Patel to either suspend cash transactions until enough currency is available or explain the cash position in the country. Venkatachalam also said the AIBEA plans to hold demonstrations and its members will wear black badges in protest from next week.

Later this month, the AIBEA is also considering going on strike.

Similarly, a federation representing income tax officials, who are busy investigating cases of undisclosed income and seizing stashes of new currency notes, have also written to the Finance Minister for more manpower and better pay. “The Seventh Pay Commission report has discriminated against the income tax officers and officers from other departments having lesser direct contribution in nation-building,” said the Joint Council of Action of Income Tax Employees’ Association and Income Tax Gazetted Officers Association.

It also highlighted problems of large vacancies with almost 35 per cent vacancies in most administrative grades as well as scarcity of space, poor connectivity and less number of laptops.

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