Ganesh & John Wilbert
Baratang, Dec 21: The State Bank of India at Nilambur Branch, Baratang, the lone bank in the entire Baratang region attracts a huge crowd on a daily basis. Earlier the bank used to have two cash counters to handle the pressure of customers but without notice one cash counter has been kept close, resulting in huge rush inside the bank.
Talking to Andaman Sheekha one villager said that due to only one operational cash counter people are facing huge inconvenience. He said that Government effectively forced poor citizens into the banking system by linking some welfare benefits tobank accounts but now villagers have ended up stuck in long queues. Although a lot of services are offered in digital mode by SBI through ATMs, often it has been seen that the ATM of Baratang remains out of order. Moreover, a large number of people of Baratang region do not know how to use the digital service of SBI through ATMs.
When Andaman Sheekha contacted a senior officer of State Bank of India at Port Blair he said that the SBI main branch has no information about Baratang Branch functioning with only one cash counter. “We will talk with the concerned bank manager, maybe due to staff shortage they have cut one cash counter,” he added. The officer also assured to sort-out the problem as soon as possible.
