State Bank of India [Get Quote] staff all over the country will observe a strike on June 6 demanding security to their counterparts working under threat from insurgents in different parts of the militancy-affected north-east.

The All India State Bank Officers' Federation has raised concerns that the SBI's staff posted in the north-east are being forced to work under constant threats from insurgents in different parts of the region, especially in Nagaland and Manipur.

The AISBOF has called for a nationwide strike on June 6 to protest against the adverse working conditions of SBI staff in the north-east.

Over 60,000 SBI officers all over the country will take part in the strike to highlight the plight of their counterparts in the north-east.

A spokesman of the AISBOF informed that officers posted in SBI branches in insurgency-hit areas of the north-east received regular calls from insurgent outfits demanding huge amount of money.

"In Manipur and Nagaland, the SBI staff are under pressure from insurgents to sanction loans sans proper documents. In such an adverse situation, the employees have to bear the brunt of both the management and the militants. The management should take note of security of our staff in the north-east. The SBI staff working in such areas should be periodically transferred and provided security and better living conditions," the AISBOF spokesman said .

He said if those officers in the noth-east who desist from sanctioning loans sans proper documents risk were facing the wrath of militants and if they complied with the demand for loans without proper papers, the management would take them to task.

Not only loans without proper documents, the SBI officers working in insurgency-hit areas of the north-east are forced to cough up substantial amounts from their monthly salaries as 'token money' to insurgent groups.

The constant threat from militants has led to acute shortage of manpower and a large number of vacant posts in SBI branches in the north-east. Seventy per cent of the total SBI branches in the region located in remote and far flung areas are exposed to militancy.