CHENNAI: AT sighting an ATM which appeared functioning in Purasawalkam, 53-year-old Ratna Kumar was ecstatic. Hope of this leather goods trader withdrawing cash grew on seeing a man doing a transaction inside the ATM. But, to his disappointment, he found that to be a cash deposit machine.
A dejected Kumar told Express that he had been on a money trail for more than an hour, since 4 pm on Wednesday. “I have been to at least 20 ATMs in and around this area. None of them are under operation,” he said.
A couple of metres away, Abhirami, a school teacher at DAV Gopalapuram, tried her luck at an ATM of Canara Bank. However, a notice stating ‘no money’ was plastered outside. “I’ll ask my affluent friends who would be more than willing to lend me some cash at this time,” she said. A little enquiry with local shopkeepers revealed that as many as 12 ATMs in Purasawalkam, a commercial hub, have not been functioning. Nearby, a watchman guarding an Indian Bank ATM, just below the Doveton flyover, said he is tired of answering to public queries. “The ATM has not been functioning for over a week now,” he said, in a tone of finality.
Countless ATMs across the length and breadth of the city, have either downed their shutters or put up a notice ‘Not in operation’. A majority of non-functioning ATMs were attached to bank branches. For instance, the ICICI bank branch on Third Avenue, Anna Nagar, has as many as three ATMs. At noon, when Express visited, none of them functioned. “The money is usually loaded around 12 pm, but today it has been delayed. Please come back and check after 2.30 pm,” a branch official said. An ATM attached to Federal Bank on Nelson Manickam Road has not been functioning for over three days.
ATMs belonging to City Union Bank (CUB), Punjab National Bank and SBI in Mylapore were shut down. The watchman outside CUB ATM, said it had been idle for more than ten days. “On Tuesday, bank officials inspected the ATM. They said they will return the next day, but they haven’t,” he said. Similarly, several ATMs near Adyar Signal were shut down as they had no cash.