The automated teller machines (ATMs) of almost all the banks frustrated their customers on Chaand Raat (Tuesday night) despite State Bank's instructions to ensure availability of cash on the eve of Eid.
According to a survey, disappointed shoppers were seen in long queues at ATMs in the main shopping areas of Saddar, Tariq Road, Haidri market and Boulton Market late Tuesday to get cash for doing their last minute Eid shopping. Most of them returned home empty handed when they failed to get cash despite lots of tries at different ATMs.
An official of a leading bank said that rush for cash withdrawal at ATMs depleted all the money in a few hours and it was not possible to refill ATMs in time in late hours. Sabir Ali, a customer of a leading bank said that he tried several ATMs but failed to withdraw Rs 5, 000 in Saddar area, when he ran out of cash.
'I had tried ATMs of three banks, but they were showing a message of failure from issuers. One ATM was out of money while another was showing a message 'out of order', he added. Tasleem Rana, another customer accompanied with the family said he badly needed cash but failed to get it while shopping at Tariq Road.
'A lot of banks had installed ATM on Tariq Road, but non of them issued me cash when I needed it badly, he added. He also said that this is not the first time that ATMs had disappointed him at the time of need. Mostly, ATMs are out of order or out of cash after 9 pm in normal days even, he noted.
One Perturbed woman said that she was in the middle of shopping along with her husband and children when the Reut-e-Hilal committee announced moon sighting. 'There was no time to go back and bring cash from home due to traffic jam and the only way to get cash was to withdraw from our bank accounts through ATM', she opined.
It may be noted that SBP has issued special instructions to banks to ensure the working of ATMs and availability of cash during Ramazan and on Eid. Similarly, the largest ATM network operator in Pakistan, 1LINK has also urged all member banks to ensure the availability of their ATM service during Eid holidays so that customers can withdraw money.
The spokesman of 1LINK said on Tuesday, that due to limited banking hours in Ramazan and rush of customers for EID shopping till late nights, ATM service is evident, as the only source of cash withdrawal for customers to meet their financial needs.
Meanwhile, Chairman Traders Action Committee, Siddique Memon has also criticised the failure of ATMs on chaand raat, saying that most of the shoppers returned home empty handed as they could not get money. Further, he said the traders also suffered due to ATMs failure as their sales declined.
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