LAHORE, Aug 2: As usual, all the 12 automated teller machines (ATMs) of the National Bank of Pakistan (NBP) in Lahore have stopped dispensing cash with the start of the new month.

Only the ATM at NBP’s Wahdat Road branch was dispensing cash till Saturday noon, while the ones outside main Jinnah Hall, Shadman Chowk (Jail Road), Davis Road, Gulberg’s main boulevard, Baghbanpura, Moon Market of Iqbal Town, Model Town and Defence Y-Block branches would inform the user his or her account number was not correct or accessible, some would get information about their balance, history of last 10 transaction while the lucky ones would get between Rs2,000 and Rs5,000 after two or three attempts. In normal cases, an NBP account holder can withdraw a maximum of Rs20,000 in 24 hours from any ATM of the bank.

The ATMs at Wapda House, Queen’s Road and Lahore Cantonment branches had been lying idle for the last couple of months. A number of bank’s online money supply service users told Dawn the ATMs always ‘develop problems’ during the first five days of every month, weekends and during more than one closed holidays.

A vice-president of the bank at its main branch told this reporter that both the software and hardware of the ATMs had outlived their utility.

“Believe you me we still have P-1 computers for the ATMs. Furthermore, the cash boxes of our ATMs do not have the capacity to carry more than Rs300,000 notes of Rs500 and Rs1,000 dominations. After banking hours there is no one left in the branch to refill the empty boxes. We have written many a time to the people concerned at our Karachi headquarters, talked to them on phone, but they always tell us a requisition had been sent to the high-ups in this regard and the system would soon be replaced,” said the VP who wished not to be named.