BENGALURU: In a blow to postal savings account holders across the state, the Karnataka Postal Circle stopped operations of all its ATMs from March 12. This is on account of the problems faced by its vendor in regularly loading the machines with cash.
A total of 75 ATMs operated by the Karnataka Postal Circle, including nine in Bengaluru, have shut shop now. A notice has been pasted outside the shuttered doors of the ATMs announcing the closure. It has been learnt through reliable sources that the public can withdraw cash using the postal department’s debit card from the ATMs of banks and India Post is likely to pay any withdrawal charges if incurred after the free transactions get lapsed.
A notification issued by the department of posts states that many of the ATMs in the country are presently non-functional “due to technical issues attributable to the ATM vendor M/s AGS Transact Technologies Ltd, which has failed to fufill its service obligations.”
The order states, “While efforts are being made to reinstate the services offered by the department through various alternate solutions, customers are hereby requested to use the channels such as online banking, mobile banking or visit the nearest post-office for their transactions.”
The release added that the department was working to set right the issue.
Chief Postmaster General, Karnataka Circle, S Rajendra Kumar, told TNIE, “This is in line with the nation-wide decision. The cash loader was facing issues across the country. The notification was issued by India Post on Wednesday (March 12). We have closed our ATMs.”
The decision would impact senior citizens the most as they either visit the post offices in person or use ATMs for cash withdrawal. Those in other age groups mostly have smartphones and carry out transactions using UPI or other online modes.