Kathmandu, August 30:

Nepal Bank Ltd (NBL) management has suspended seven employees — including two senior leaders of the two trade unions — charging them of indiscipline and provoking an agitation, in its latest attempt to control the protests by employees.

Some 600 employees — of NBL, the oldest and one of the largest public sector commercial banks in the country — are at forefront of the agitation against new employees’ regulation. They have been protesting at the head office and Kathmandu banking office since Sunday. The protest by Nepal Bank Employees Association (NBEA) and Nepal Financial Institutions Employees Association (NFIEA) has completely halted the daily transactions and other administrative activities in the bank.

Those suspended employees include NBEA president Dhruba Man Pradhan, general secretary Premal Kumar Khanal and secretary Navaraj Rimal and president of NBEA regional committee Himal Kumar Kapali. Likewise, the president of NFIEA Semanta Kumar Gauli, general secretary Sudarshan Ghimire and central member of Nepal Trade Union Congress (NTUC) Manju Bhattarai have also been suspended from the service. NBEA president Pradhan lambasted the management’s ‘dictatorship’ for not allowing the employees’ rights to exercise trade union activities. He also informed that the employees would launch a series of protest nationwide from tomorrow, brining all the activities at the banks to a complete halt.