Advertisement
“Our Staff is Our Asset”: Key Voices Resonate at BOIOA Pune Unit’s 44th AGM
Bank of India Officers’ Association’s 44th Annual General Body Meeting in Pune united 1300+ officers, highlighting key issues like stress, transfers, pension, IT troubles, and 5-day banking.
Author: Neha Bodke
Published: June 10, 2025
Advertisement
The 44th Annual General Body Meeting (AGM) of the Bank of India Officers’ Association (BOIOA), Pune Unit, held at Swami Vivekananda Auditorium, MIT College, turned into a commanding platform of unity, reflection, and assertion. With over 1300 officers attending from Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur, Solapur, and Ratnagiri zones, the gathering amplified longstanding concerns around staff welfare, policy transparency, operational stress, and the evolving role of officers in public sector banking.
Leadership Convergence: Acknowledgement and Accountability
The session saw the presence of the Federation of Bank of India Officers’ Association (FBOIOA) top leadership including General Secretary Nilesh Pawar, President Nageshwar, Working President Shwetang Trivedi, Vice President Mahendra Dhondse, and Treasurer Vikas More, Media Convener Ashish Tekale Patil among others. Regional leaders like Anton Saldana (Mumbai & Goa), Amol Sangle (Pune Unit President), and Pramod Shinde (Pune Unit General Secretary) anchored the proceedings, along with key officials from the Bank of India management.
A consensus emerged from the discussions: officers across the state are performing under significant pressure, yet they lack commensurate support in infrastructure, empathetic policy, and mental wellness initiatives.
Ground-Level Stress, IT Challenges, and Working Hours
Several speakers, including senior management, addressed the growing stress at ground level due to IT breakdowns, extended working hours, and communication overloads through video calls and WhatsApp reporting. Officers working from early morning until 9 or 10 PM was a recurring concern.
Zonal Manager Pune, Sanjay Kadam, pointed out that both management and association are aligned in wanting work-life balance. He emphasized that the association's repeated calls for 5-day banking and timely leave implementation are essential to preventing burnout.
Nilesh Pawar, among others, added that stress management workshops should be institutionalized for officers and managers. He further announced that subsidized accommodation allowances will likely see a 25–30% hike within a month, underlining the Association’s continued negotiations on monetary welfare.
Transfer Process and Misuse of Policy
The transfer process emerged as one of the most criticized issues of the day. Speakers across the board stated that transfers are increasingly being used as tools of punishment or management retaliation, instead of logical or compassionate placements. Shwetang Trivedi highlighted how officers are sent to distant locations without due justification.
Disconnect Between Staff and Customers
Zonal Manager of Ratnagiri, Narendra Devre, shared troubling observations from recent branch visits. He revealed that over 95% of complaints were linked to deposit handling, and stressed that such gaps damage the bank’s trust credentials.
He reminded the gathering of the Bank of India’s tagline, "Relationship Beyond Banking", stating that it must be upheld through presence, discipline, and professional conduct.
Old Pension Scheme, NPS, and Retirees’ Concerns
Prakash Patki, representing the Retirees' Association, brought in the voices of over 2 lakh retirees from across India, including 16,000 from Pune. He reiterated the demand for a uniform pension scheme, aligned with RBI and central government employees, and not the current NPS structure that began post-2010.
This concern found resonance with leaders like Chandrashekhar Mantri, Zonal Manager of Solapur, who questioned the rationale of having the bank’s pension funds managed elsewhere: “If we have our own fund, why should it be invested in external instruments?”
Targets vs. Support: A Shift Needed
Mahendra Dhondse reflected on the emotional and physical fatigue among officers due to excessive target pressure. He urged the leadership to acknowledge that while officers are not flawless, they must not be vilified.
“Our comrades are not always guilty but mistakes happen. Let’s correct them, not crucify them.”, said Dhondse.
He called for management to motivate through support, not pressure, especially when staff are handling multiple responsibilities in under-resourced branches.
“Our staff is our asset”, he added further.
Technology Acceptance, Infrastructure, and Retail Roadblocks
Infrastructure inadequacies, especially in remote and rural branches, came up frequently. Officers shared how Finacle outages, limited tech support, and remote login issues are severely affecting CASA mobilization and basic banking operations.
Pramod Shinde acknowledged that while some zones have responded positively to these concerns, the experience isn’t uniform across all branches. Leaders pushed for centralized grievance tracking and stronger coordination between branches and zonal offices.
Further, Retail TDR login days and technical gaps in dormant account reactivation processes were criticized. Officers called for operational freedom to carry out smaller yet critical customer services without needless bureaucratic hurdles.
A Resilient Unit, Closing in Unity
The Pune Unit was widely praised for its vibrant activism, from Twitter campaigns and road marches in Ratnagiri and Kolhapur, to persistent follow-ups with state leaders like Ajit Pawar and Eknath Shinde regarding language barriers and staffing norms.
As the program drew to a close, BOIOA Pune President Amol Sangle delivered a heartfelt vote of thanks, saluting the volunteers, staff, and speakers who made the event meaningful.The meeting drew to a close with a shared sense of determination, as attendees left with renewed clarity, collective purpose, and calls for change echoing forward.
No comments yet.