No relief: Watan Cards that do not work
Complaints continue to pour in about Watan cards not working.
NOWSHERA:
Floods, inadequate relief response and now Watan Cards that do not work – the flood survivors have just about seen it all.
There have been at least five complaints in Nowshera alone. In some cases, other cards issued on their names to someone else had been used to withdraw cash from the automated teller machines (ATM).
These people approached the Protection Referral Outreach Unit (PROU).
The District Coordination Officer (DCO), on December 22 last year, ordered the concerned bank officials to launch an inquiry into the matter.
But nothing happened in the ensuing 16 days.
Shaukat Ali, a resident of Kabul River area and Vice President of Awami National Party (ANP) Nowshera Kala, said that he was issued a card on December 18 and the number was recorded by NADRA officials on their verification form.
“I checked the card issued to me (4585-4780-2351-6001) within 45 hours at an ATM. The machine refused to disburse cash. When I contacted the bank staff, I was told that the card was never issued to anyone,” he said.
A card usually takes at least 48 hours to activate. But when Ali contacted the Karachi office, they told him that his account had been accessed through another ATM card at 9:14am on December 20. A total of Rs25,000 were withdrawn from the bank (the serial number of the other card was 4585-5780-2351-6003).
He alleged that the number on his card tallied with the verification form, but officials at the bank who feed data to computers, “must have changed the numbers”.
He then approached the DCO, who directed the bank officials on December 22 to hold an inquiry into this incident. The inquiry is yet to fix blame.
“I do not need the money anymore, but only want the people behind this fraud to be unmasked and discharged from their jobs,” he told The Express Tribune.
Wahidullah, hailing from Dagai Kalan said that he was issued a card bearing number 4587-4574-3498-0004 on October 14. He said that the bank told him that the card was not registered to anyone.
Later on November 29, he was issued another card bearing number 4585-4582-7521-7001, but the bank officials told him that there was no balance on his name.
Upon contacting the bank’s head office in Karachi, he was told that the money had been withdrawn on his name from another card (4585-4574-3497-9006) on October 18 at United Bank Limited branch in Sheikh Maltoon Town, Mardan at around 6:16pm. He also approached the DCO but so far nothing has came
out of it.
He accused the bank staff of issuing a fake card.
“The bank officials [must have] retained the original card and later withdrew the amount,” he said.
PRUO focal person Col (Retd) Farukh Saeed said that so far five such cases have been reported to his centre.
Saeed acknowledges that fake cards were issued to these people and some other party withdrew the money on
their names.
A Provincial Disaster Management Authority spokesperson said that it was the first time any such thing had been reported. He said that it was not possible to issue the two cards to the same person and there could possibly be a problem in the
bank’s system.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2011.
Floods, inadequate relief response and now Watan Cards that do not work – the flood survivors have just about seen it all.
There have been at least five complaints in Nowshera alone. In some cases, other cards issued on their names to someone else had been used to withdraw cash from the automated teller machines (ATM).
These people approached the Protection Referral Outreach Unit (PROU).
The District Coordination Officer (DCO), on December 22 last year, ordered the concerned bank officials to launch an inquiry into the matter.
But nothing happened in the ensuing 16 days.
Shaukat Ali, a resident of Kabul River area and Vice President of Awami National Party (ANP) Nowshera Kala, said that he was issued a card on December 18 and the number was recorded by NADRA officials on their verification form.
“I checked the card issued to me (4585-4780-2351-6001) within 45 hours at an ATM. The machine refused to disburse cash. When I contacted the bank staff, I was told that the card was never issued to anyone,” he said.
A card usually takes at least 48 hours to activate. But when Ali contacted the Karachi office, they told him that his account had been accessed through another ATM card at 9:14am on December 20. A total of Rs25,000 were withdrawn from the bank (the serial number of the other card was 4585-5780-2351-6003).
He alleged that the number on his card tallied with the verification form, but officials at the bank who feed data to computers, “must have changed the numbers”.
He then approached the DCO, who directed the bank officials on December 22 to hold an inquiry into this incident. The inquiry is yet to fix blame.
“I do not need the money anymore, but only want the people behind this fraud to be unmasked and discharged from their jobs,” he told The Express Tribune.
Wahidullah, hailing from Dagai Kalan said that he was issued a card bearing number 4587-4574-3498-0004 on October 14. He said that the bank told him that the card was not registered to anyone.
Later on November 29, he was issued another card bearing number 4585-4582-7521-7001, but the bank officials told him that there was no balance on his name.
Upon contacting the bank’s head office in Karachi, he was told that the money had been withdrawn on his name from another card (4585-4574-3497-9006) on October 18 at United Bank Limited branch in Sheikh Maltoon Town, Mardan at around 6:16pm. He also approached the DCO but so far nothing has came
out of it.
He accused the bank staff of issuing a fake card.
“The bank officials [must have] retained the original card and later withdrew the amount,” he said.
PRUO focal person Col (Retd) Farukh Saeed said that so far five such cases have been reported to his centre.
Saeed acknowledges that fake cards were issued to these people and some other party withdrew the money on
their names.
A Provincial Disaster Management Authority spokesperson said that it was the first time any such thing had been reported. He said that it was not possible to issue the two cards to the same person and there could possibly be a problem in the
bank’s system.
Published in The Express Tribune, January 8th, 2011.