Customers sore over soiled notes at ATMs

Rajendranagar: Currency notes with unusual patterns, emerging from SBI ATMs, are putting customers, especially pensioners, to trouble these days. Every such incident is forcing customers to run for grievance from branch managers to authorities concerned based at main branch in Abids.

"We are receiving such notes every often from the SBI ATMs. Today, I withdrew pension from my father's account at an ATM, located at Doodh Bowli, opposite to Kapu Sangam. I was shocked to see two Rs 500 notes, emerged from the machine, had unusual pattern.

These notes are unusual in their appearance, as they carry a dark pattern in the middle. The notes are definitely not going to be accepted by anyone in the market, as there are already a lot of apprehensions prevailing with regard to the legitimacy of the notes," lamented Sharath Raj Saxena, who hails from Hussaini Alam.

"This is not the first time we faced trouble after receiving such faulty currency notes. Last month too, I have received similar notes from the same ATM. As my father is not able to draw money from his pension account on his own, I do it on his behalf. However, I received such faulty notes from the ATM often, forcing me to run from pillar to post," he added.

"Today when I have approached the Branch Manager, Hussaini Alam, he, after checking the code on the cash withdrawal slip, told me that the ATM from where I got the notes comes under the purview of main branch, Abids, as the main branch outsourced the ATMs.

Now, I have to approach the authorities concerned at Abids, which is a faraway from my location," Saxena bemoaned. "ATMs are meant to facilitate the customers who can't afford the rush at main branches to withdraw money. However, the ATMs are dispensing faulty currency notes," said Mohammed Imam Tahseen, a city-based activist and President for SBI Account Holders' Association.

Authorities have to check the notes before stashing them into the ATMs, Imam Tahseen said. Putting the customers to trouble with such kind of negligence would only allow them to turn toward private banks, he added.

Meanwhile, the branch manager, Hussaini Alam, has said that the faulty currency notes, emerging from ATMs, are called soiled notes and may have been the result of improper sorting practice performed at the time of filling the stash by the outsourced agency. However, there is nothing to be worried about the legitimacy of these notes, as they are also the same as the other legal tenders of the RBI and that the notes can be exchanged at any of the bank counters.