Banks say ‘no’ to cash in two J&K districts

Security agencies issue advisory in Pulwama and Shopian

New targets: Employees working in a branch of Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Srinagar on Saturday.

With militants targeting banks in south Kashmir, cash transactions in nearly 40 of their branches in the sensitive areas of Pulwama and Shopian districts in south Kashmir have been stopped.

Security agencies issued an advisory asking the banks in the two districts to stop cash deliveries as they apprehend more such attacks.

The branches affected belong to Jammu and Kashmir Bank and Ellaquai Dehati Bank, which were targeted by militants recently.

A senior official of Jammu and Kashmir Bank said all other banking operations, including ATM services, would continue in these areas.

“We were told that the security agencies have inputs about more such attacks; so we had to stop cash transactions at these branches designated by the security agencies as sensitive,” he said.

Other banking operations, including cashless transactions and ATM services, will continue.

Also, people in these areas can undertake cash transactions at other designated branches nearby, he said.

The official said the move to stop cash transactions was temporary till effective measures were put in place to ensure the safety and security of bank employees and assets.

“We have discussed various measures for the safety and security of our employees as well as the cash. We are putting those measures in place in the coming few days, and once they are in place, cash transactions at these branches will be resumed,” he said.

More security

Various measures like providing additional armed security guards at these branches and having bullet-proof cash vans have been discussed, the official said.

On May 1, militants attacked a cash van of Jammu and Kashmir Bank and shot dead five policemen and two bank security guards in the Damhal Hanji Pora area of Kulgam district in south Kashmir.

Meanwhile, a special State-level bankers committee meeting was held here on Friday in which the issue was discussed.

Finance Minister Haseeb Drabu, who presided over the meeting, said there was a need to devise special security measures to deal with this kind of situation. “Surveillance is good but it cannot substitute physical security on the ground,” he said.

The meeting was also attended by Chief Secretary B. B. Vyas, Principal Secretary (Home) R.K. Goel and Director General of Police S.P. Vaid.