Angry bank customers run out of patience, vent ire

After failing to get money from the ATM of a nationalised bank, some customers ransacked the ATM machine. The incident took place at around 3 pm from Liluah in Howrah.

The customers, who were standing in the queue to withdraw money from the ATM, got agitated when the currency notes were exhausted. People’s frustration had reached to such an extent after failing to get the money that they started shouting before the ATM counter. A chaos broke out in the area. The mob soon started ransacking the ATM machine. Police reached the spot but the situation turned hostile as the customers engaged in altercation with the police. A huge contingent of police rushed to the spot to bring the situation under control. The ATM machine was damaged in the incident.

Some of the people who stood in the queue have alleged that more than 20 days have passed, but the things are going bad to worse as people are not getting money.

Many elderly persons are falling ill after standing in the bank queue to withdraw money.

The local people said that they are unable to withdraw money and asked for how long they have to bear with this problem.

Senior officials of the Reserve Bank of India in Kolkata announced cash can be withdrawn from Petrol Pumps. There will be mobile ATM available in the tea gardens. Separate counters will be opened for the pensioners so that they face no trouble in withdrawing money. Around 2,664 ATM counter will be functioning in the beginning of the next month. Bank officials also assured that there will be no problems in disbursing salaries of the employees in the next month.

A chaos broke out in front of an ATM counter at Nabanna when the employees gathered there to withdraw their salary. The state government has taken arrangement to give the salary of its employees in advance so that they face no problems. On Wednesday morning, the employees started congregating in front of the ATM machine. A quarrel suddenly broke out between the employees who were standing in the long queues. Police reached the spot and brought the situation under control.