Customers face difficulties ahead of Eid

Customers are facing a hard time drawing cash as many ATMs of different banks stand out of order.

KARACHI: Bank customers are facing a hard time in drawing cash as many automated teller machines (ATMs) of different banks stand either out of order or without sufficient cash.

With Eid around the corner, customers usually rush towards ATMs in a bid to get quick cash for shopping. Ahmed Ali, a bank customer, said that account holders return angry or disappointed when they find ATMs out of cash.

“I have never seen such bad performance before the Eid holidays. I tried six different machines from different banks but none of them worked,” he said.

The sorry tale of out-of-cash ATMs during the Eid season is not a new one. Every year thousands of bank customers face problems in acquiring cash for shopping purposes.

A resident of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, a middle-income locality of Karachi, said that when one bank fails to deliver cash, customers usually make withdrawals from other banks by paying additional charges of Rs15 per transaction.

When enquired about the problem, the spokesperson for the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) said that the central bank has taken serious notice of the issue. On Monday, the central bank had advised all commercial banks to ensure continuous and smooth functioning of ATMs during Eid holidays.

Banks have also been directed to replenish ATMs on regular intervals during the Eid holidays.

It is worth mentioning that SBP has issued fresh currency notes worth Rs96.93 billion to commercial banks during Ramazan, according to data released on Thursday, the last working day before Eid.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 10^th, 2010.