October 04, 2008	Saturday	Shawwal 04, 1429

KARACHI, Oct 3: Most of the automated teller machines (ATMs) in the city ran out of cash on Tuesday night leaving thousands of customers disappointed. Long queues at the ATMs of almost all banks were witnessed during the day and late into the night but quite a large number of people at every ATM had to return empty-handed.

The State Bank had issued clear instructions to all banks to ensure availability of cash on the eve of Eid.

People were seen standing in long queues at various ATMs installed in the main shopping areas of Saddar, Tariq Road, Haideri, Boulton Market, etc in the evening and their number continued to go up till late into the night.

Most of them intended to shop for themselves and their family members on the Eid night.An executive of a leading bank, when contacted, maintained that ATMs ran out of money because of heavy withdrawals.

The cash stocks in the machines exhausted within a few hours and it was not possible for the banks concerned to refill them during the night hours, he added.

Sabir Ali, a bank customer, said he made several attempts at different ATMs in Saddar area to draw Rs5,000. I tried to draw money from the ATMs of three banks but in vain. One of the ATMs had no money and another one was out of order, he added.

Tasleem Rana, a customer accompanied by his family, said he badly needed money while shopping on Tariq Road but failed to draw cash from any ATM around. “A lot of banks had installed ATMs on Tariq Road but none of them was able to oblige me,” he said. He, however, stated that this was not for the first time that ATMs had disappointed him when he needed money urgently. “Mostly, ATMs run out of cash or go out of order after 9pm even on normal days,” he claimed.

A perturbed woman said she had finished her cash while shopping with her husband and children. It was the time when the Ruet Hilal Committee announced sighting of the moon. “It was not possible for us to go home to bring more cash because of traffic congestion and unexpected crowds emerging on the streets… the only option was to draw cash through an ATM but, to our sheer disappointment, the machines had already run out of cash,” she said.

While the State Bank had issued special instructions to all banks to ensure availability of adequate cash and keep the ATMs in perfect working condition during Ramazan and on the eve of Eid, the largest ATM network operator in Pakistan, the “One Link” had also urged all its member banks to ensure cash delivery to customers through ATMs before and during the Eid holidays.

Meanwhile, chairman of the Traders Action Committee Siddique Memon has criticised banks’ failure to come up to the expectations of their customers in need. “Most of the shoppers had to return empty-handed after being denied cash delivery through ATMs on the Eid night,” he regretted.

He said the ATMs failure had also caused losses to traders, who suffered a decline in their sales.—APP