Srinagar, Sept 5: At a time when people were busy shopping for the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr, various Automated Teller Machines of J&K Bank across the city were running dry on Sunday.

 Many bank customers told Greater Kashmir they had to struggle hard for withdrawing their money from ATMs. “I had to withdraw Rs 15,000 from an ATM for depositing admission fee, but could not withdraw more than Rs 3,500, for after that the ATM stopped working,” lamented Nighat while referring to an ATM at Jawahar Nagar.

 Similar reports were received from Baghat Barzulla, Sanatnagar and other places of the city, where J&K Bank ATMs were running dry. “This is really disheartening. Where from shall we arrange money for purchasing items for Eid?” asked an annoyed customer, Altaf Ahmad, after failing to withdraw money from an ATM.

 At many ATMs, not a single note of Rs 500 could be withdrawn, whereas only Rs 100 notes were available.

 According to market observers, the time when ongoing agitation was at its peak, there was no shortage of money at J&K Bank ATMs, which, they said, would disburse crores of rupees in Kashmir on a relaxation day. “But now despite Eid only a few days away, people were struggling to withdraw their own money. We fail to understand what has happened suddenly,” they said.
 Contrarily, ATMs of State Bank of India and HDFC Bank at many places were reported to be working properly.

 Meanwhile, some banks were also closed, much to the disappointment of customers.

JK Bank Speaks
 An official of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank said Rs 19 crore was withdrawn from the bank ATMs across the valley. 

 In central Kashmir’s district of Budgam and Srinagar, Rs 12.37 crore were withdrawn, a bank official said adding Rs 4.5 crore was withdrawn in 12000 transaction in South Kashmir and Rs 2.5 crore were withdrawn in 8000 transaction in North Kashmir.

 He said the Pulwama ATM disbursed Rs 33 lakh, Islamabad Rs 32 lakh, Shopian Rs 31 lakh, Ikhwan Chowk Rs 26 lakh, Balgarden Rs 26 lakh and Khanabal Rs 25 lakh.

Lastupdate on : Sun, 5 Sep 2010 21:30:00 Mecca time
Lastupdate on : Sun, 5 Sep 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Mon, 6 Sep 2010 00:00:00 IST