By Our Reporter
SHILLONG: Public should have a feeling of ownership while using an ATM, said bankers here in the city, in the face of large scale vandalism of ATMs which is attributed to the bad behaviour of the public, too.
Though miscreants have gone on a rampage recently when they vandalized a number of ATMs in the city, it has been learnt that some miscreants have even downed the shutter as they went all-out to break open the ATM in search of money.
A banker of a renowned nationalized bank in the city said that a few days ago he saw two customers breaking window panes of an ATM in Laban.
“The general tendency of the customer is that if their transaction in the ATM is not successful then they target the infrastructure,” said the banker.
He is echoed by the manager of another nationalized bank whose ATMs were recently targeted by miscreants.
“It can be understood that the assailants who tried their hands at robbing the ATMs later vandalized it when things did not turn out their way,” he said on the recent spurt of ATM vandalism in the city.
He also said that though no miscreants have been successful in extracting money from the bank’s ATM located in the city, so far, but non-functionality of ATMs as a result of vandalism has affected many.
Another such banking official said that frustration and venom due to failed transaction cannot be targeted on bank’s infrastructure and one should have a feeling of ownership.
“Technology can behave abruptly sometimes and it is like operating one’s own computer. If an individual is experiencing some hurdle while operating his computer, does he bang it then,” asked the banking official.
Informing that ATMs have to be repaired more due to vandalism by miscreants than any other technical reasons in the city, an official of another nationalized bank whose ATMs were targeted more than any other banks in recent times said that it is after all the customers themselves who suffer out of such nuisances.
“It is like a customer suffering due to the foul play of another customer,” he said opting out vandalism by miscreants, which is a crime and everyone gets affected.
Some of the common acts that customers commit out of frustration are breaking the shield of the monitor, tampering with the switches of the ATM, breaking of infrastructures among others. Another major problem that ATMs are facing is littering in the city. In many ATMs public have spitted inside the ATM room. “I don’t know what conscience does the public have. Is it a toilet or a spittoon,” asked an angry banker.
Apart from spitting the great Indian mentality of rubbing lime, literally everywhere, is also a common sight in ATMs. “There are some ATMs where the public information boards have been limed off totally,” said a banker.