August 05, 2007	Sunday	Rajab 20, 1428

RAWALPINDI, Aug 4: Irfan Ghauri was one of the 50 ATM cardholders who were waiting in a queue to draw money from the National Bank’s Cantonment branch in Saddar.

“I am waiting for my turn to reach the ATM for the last one hour but it would take some time to get there,” Mr Ghauri told Dawn.

He said many a time the ATM machine of this bank remained out of order so the account-holders experienced trouble in drawing their salaries.

He said the customers made frequent complaints to the bank management about the problem, but did not receive any satisfactory answer from the officials.

“We are standing here like those who come to banks

to deposit their utility bills,”

Mr Ghauri sarcastically remarked.

The prime objective of introducing technology in any sector is to make the lives of people more easier but to what extent it is true in case of the National Bank is yet to be determined.

The ATMs were introduced in the banking sector to facilitate the customers to cash their money easily and avoid the trouble of joining long queues. But, at least in the case of NBP the holders of ATM cards remain in the same mess as they were with their cheque books.

“I got my ATM card to avoid the trouble of joining long queues often witnessed in the NBP branches but even with the facility available, the same problem continues to haunt me,” said Munir Ahmad, who was also in the long queue outside the Cantonment branch.

It is really frustrating to wait for so long to draw money from the bank with an ATM card in your hand, he added.

Mr Munir said it seemed that the customers were not the priority of the National Bank.

An official in the bank told this reporter that ATMs went out of order because of a number of factors like absence of cash, temperature changes and data communication problems but it was the obligation of the relevant bank management to correct the situation.