Banks need to be educated

Banks are under-educated on banking norms and policies. They are unaware of their own apex body’s circulars and notifications. Whose fault is it? The clients are often at the receiving end of this ignorant and indifferent attitude of officials. Ashok Dhoni (name changed), a 17-year-old teenager from Ranchi, Jharkhand is suffering at the hands of two public sector banks – Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Baroda-which adds to several other problems spewed out by nationalized banks in India. Ashok is the youngest of three siblings who were detected with Retinitis Pigmentosa (RP) at the age of six which has led to a gradual loss of vision. His family’s financial constraints add to the problems Ashok is facing in his life. He was put into a special school growing up, heeding to the advice of his brother’s Mathematics teacher. But the facilities were inadequate in the school and he was not happy there. He convinced his parents to move to Delhi seeking better opportunities and facilities. In Delhi, he enrolled in a Government Senior Secondary School under the Social Welfare Department and got a hostel accommodation. At school, he was actively involved in many cultural and academic activities. With limited support from his family, he helped himself finding scholarship programs to pursue his academic interests.

In hindsight, sourcing money was less hard than depositing and withdrawing it for meeting his needs. Ashok opened an account in the Oriental Bank of Commerce which denied him an ATM card. He finally got the ATM card after producing for himself the RBI and IBA circulars. Then on his attempt to get an ATM card from the Bank of Baroda where he had an account for the past two years seemed even more difficult. Not only he was denied an ATM card, he was asked to bring along two account holders to give an undertaking on his behalf. At the same, his blind friend was also denied the ATM card by the same bank.

Ashok contacted Eyeway regarding this matter and our counselor provided him the contact of Nodal Officer A. Shankar Narayanan, Deputy General Manager and Deputy Zonal Head, Bank of Baroda. The Nodal Officer confessed his poor knowledge on the matter inadvertently by responding that they are not aware of such provisions for blind and asked him to mail RBI and IBA circulars. He was also advised to drop his complaint in the branch complaint drop box. Ashok did drop his complaint and contacted the officer again after few days, but he refused that he had received any complaint from Ashok. He again contacted Eyeway and the second time we provided him the contact of R L Sharma at the Reserve Bank of India Office. The response is awaited on this matter and Eyeway is keen on the course of this issue.