Banks, ATMs remain unguarded, police advice falls on deaf ears

LUDHIANA: Despite robbers targeting various banks and ATMs of the city in the recent past, many of these remain unguarded. According to the city police, time and again they ask banks to hire guards, but to no avail.
At present, PCR cops of Ludhiana Police visit ATMs and banks daily, click their selfies to share with senior officials, and make a note in their diaries at the unguarded banks.
Commissioner of police Rakesh Agarwal said, “Some time ago, the Ludhiana Police had started a drive under which all banks and ATM kiosks were divided into beats and assigned to the PCR cops. We have prepared a checklist, that includes availability of CCTVs, functional hooters, connection of hotline, display of numbers of police stations concerned and availability of guards. The cops who visit banks and ATM kiosks make note of these factors in their report.”
He said, “Some banks and many ATM kiosks don’t have guards. We have been organising several meetings and have also written to them to appoint security guards, but they haven’t paid any heed. Most of the times banks tell us that they don’t have funds to hire full-time security guards. In the recent past, some private banks opened small branches in different localities and majority of them don’t have guards. We have started patrolling and more meetings will be held with the bank authorities.”
In the past two weeks, two attempts of tampering with ATMs were reported in the city.
Deputy commissioner of police (law and order) Ashwani Kapur said, “Banks have outsourced the ATM kiosks and also got the cash insured. So, they don’t bother to hire a guard. But when someone attempts to tamper with an ATM, the police have to rush there.”
Naresh Gaur, secretary, Punjab Bank Employees’ Federation, said, “According to the RBI guidelines, a security guard at a bank is a must. But several banks, both private and government, and ATMs are unguarded. The reason is most of the banks have got the cash insured.”
Anil Kumar, lead bank manager of Ludhiana, said, “We have not received any directions that say that having a guard is mandatory, but we keep asking all the banks to have guards and proper security systems.”