Banking services were affected in Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattishgarh and Goa for the second consecutive day today as clearing operations and cash transactions came to a grinding halt in the wake of 48-hour strike called by the Central Trade Unions.

In Maharashtra, the shutdown witnessed near cent per cent participation by employees from banking and insurance sector in the commercial capital, leaving their operations completely paralysed.

"A majority of ATMs have dried up while the (bank) branches are shut. Additionally, there has not been any cheque clearing either as personnel from RBI too joined the strike. It will take at least 2-3 working days to clear the backlog for banks," said All India Bank Employees Association Vice President Vishwas Utagi.

The Reserve Bank, which saw its Grade III and IV employees joining the bandh, normally clears around 7-8 lakh cheques worth Rs 25,000 crores on a daily basis but not a single cheque was presented yesterday, a senior bank official told PTI today.

However, normal life was unaffected as suburban railway functioned as usual and road as well as air traffic remained undisrupted in Mumbai.

Elsewhere in Maharashtra, the bandh remained peaceful with no untoward incident reported from any of the districts except in Beed, where two buses were damaged.

In Gujarat, clearing house operations remained suspended on day two affecting cheque clearing to the tune of around Rs 40,000 crore, as over 12,000 officers and 35,000 other banking employees boycotted work on strike call given by the United Forum for Bank Union (UFBU).

But transport services resumed from midnight as Gujarat State Road Transportation Corporation (GSRTC) employees joined duty and all functions were normalised.

In Madhya Pradesh, the bandh had a partial effect in Bhopal, Indore and Jabalpur even as banking, insurance, postal, PSU units (including BHEL) and other commercial activities were largely affected.

The shutdown was total in Sehore, Gwalior, Sagar, Ratlam and other major towns in MP, Trade Unions Joint Forum spokesman Pushan Bhattacharya told PTI.

At Gwalior, the Gwalior-Barouni Bundelkhand Express train was stopped at the railway station for nearly 15 minutes by the Bharatiya Mazdoor Sangh (BMS) members, who squatted on the tracks and climbed over the engine.

In neighbouring Chhattisgarh, employees from postal, insurance and other industrial sectors staged demonstrations in the state capital of Raipur and submitted a joint memorandum of their demands to the Chief Minister, CPM leader Dharmraj Mohapatra said.

All nationalised banks and commercial establishments were shutdown.

The bandh remained largely peaceful in the Naxal state and transport services were running smoothly.

In Goa, majority of the industries remained closed with almost all workers observing the strike, Suhas Naik, Convenor, Goa Convention of Workers told reporters in Panaji.

Shekhar Sardesai, President, Goa Small Industries Association (GSIA), however, refuted the claim and said there was little impact of the trade union bandh.