TURA: Citizens of Tura witnessed a harrowing experience on Wednesday as ATMs of the State Bank of India (SBI), the largest public sector bank in the entire region, went dry as bank authorities failed to do justice to the plight of consumers by keeping their kiosks open and functioning.
Large crowds of people waited in long queues across several ATMs only to face an empty return as efforts to replenish cash stocks failed for reasons best known to SBI officials.
While the ATM outside the main SBI Regional office in Chandmari remained shut for the past two days, other cash vending machines of the bank at Tura Municipal Hub market, Araimile and even main bazar failed to release cash due to empty coffers.
The cash crunch at SBI ATMs during salary days has become a very common phenomenon in Tura for the past couple of years and no remedy has been provided by the bank to end this problem.
Like in the previous past, private sector banks like the HDFC, IndusInd, ICICI and Union Bank, many of whom run single ATMs in the town, had to come to the rescue of the people straining their cash reserves for the benefit of the people.