ATMs go dry, customers facing hardships

Vizianagaram: D Gopinath of Parvathipuram visited many ATMs in Parvathipuram but could not get a single rupee from them as the ATMs have gone empty. Though the bank officials are loading the money in the ATMs, people are withdrawing the same within a few minutes. They are taking out their money ahead of Sankranti for shopping. As a result, the people are taking more money than their regular monthly budget.

Now, the customers are forced to rush to many ATMs to take out money for  meeting their Sankranti expenditure. Generally, public purchase garments and visit their native villages to meet their near and dear ones. 

Generally, the public spends double the amount than their regular monthly expenditure for Sankranti. So, the public needs to visit the banks and ATMs to withdraw the cash from their accounts.    But the bank officials are restricting their customers to take only some of their amount. Hence, no cash boards are being displayed on the ATM doors as the public are withdrawing money immediately  after they are loaded.  

State Bank of India has restricted their customers to take only Rs.10,000 from their accounts and they are not accepting the cheques worth more than Rs 10,000.  Though the customer has a large amount of money in his account, he is not being paid more than Rs10,000. 

A senior bank manager told them that they don’t have enough cash reserves in their bank and they have to adjust as the bank officials have to  distribute limited cash to every customer. So, they are minimising the withdrawal of their customers. A family of Balajinagar in Vizianagaram, which is about to move to their home town to celebrate Sankranti, has postponed their tour due to unavailability of cash.  

Speaking to The Hans India here on Thursday, K Surya Narayana  of Vizianagaram, said: “I have been roaming in the town from the morning but I could not get money from any ATM. Now, I need to purchase some commodities from the grocery shop. The situation is difficult, how can I move to my native village without money.” 

K.Narasinga Rao, of Vizianagaram, said: “I have cash in my account but I couldn’t get it right now from any ATM, even the self-cheques are also not being honoured by the bank staff. They are asking us to take only Rs 10,000. How can I meet my Pongal expenditure with this paltry  amount”. 

By Koppara Gandhi