MULTAN City News

Dysfunctional, empty ATMs mar Eid enjoyment

From Nadeem Shah

MULTAN: People have been facing a number of problems as many automated teller machines (ATMs) are either out of cash or dysfunctional in Multan ahead of Eid.

There are more than 800 ATMs of different commercial banks in Multan but many of them were found dysfunctional from Sunday night to onward on Bosan Road, Gulgasht Colony, Bahauddin Zakariya University, Cantonment, Chowk Ghantha Ghar, Hussain Agahi, Chowk Bazaar, New Multan Colony Mumtazabad, Railway Station and other areas.

Before the introduction of ATMs, accountholders were quite comfortable as they had no other option but to withdraw money from banks at least two to three days before Eid, using cheques. However, now a majority of customers rely on ATM cards to withdraw cash through a transaction that takes hardly a minute.

A number of customers said that not only there were long queues in front of ATMs, the cardholders were also seen quarreling and exchanging harsh words with bank guards in some areas. They said the guards, who normally stood alert outside the banks, preferred to remain inside the premises to avoid interacting with annoyed accountholders, who failed to draw cash. Khurram Farooq said that Eid happiness was attached with money. He said that he made a number of attempts at an ATM machine on Bosan Road but failed to draw a single penny. He said that he stopped making more attempts to avoid ATM card capturing. He said that the dysfunctional ATMs had largely disappointed customers just a day before Eid. Rahim Bakhsh said that he failed to draw desired amount from an ATM for want of cash in the machine while my family was waiting for shopping.

A man standing in front of an ATM near Jalal Masjid said: “I have no money in my house while my wife and kids are insisting on disbursement of Eidi among children.” Naveed Ahmad, while standing in front of an ATM of another bank, said: “The bank administration has not made elaborated arrangements to disburse cash to accountholders through ATMs due to which many people, like me, have returned disappointed after standing in long queues.”

Some bank managers said that ATMs were not out-of-order, but they had run out of cash due to heavy withdrawals. They said that ATMs had a capacity to hold around Rs 3 million and in normal working days, the amount was more than sufficient for a day. However, during prolonged Eid holidays, it was not enough to meet needs of the accountholders, they added.

Meanwhile, State Bank of Pakistan Multan Chief Manager Malik Ashraf Khokhar visited some ATMs in Kabirwala and took notice of their closure and called the respective bank managers for resolution of complaints. The SBP Multan region officials said that they had advised all banks to make necessary measures to ensure uninterrupted availability of ATM services on Eid.

The south Punjab cities witnessed issues related to bad link, delaying issuance of pensions and failing to support finance-related needs of the locals. Long queues were seen outside different ATM cabins in Multan and south Punjab remote areas.