Our Correspondent
Kiphire | August 20
The only national bank in Kiphire district, State Bank of India (SBI) Kiphire branch, has been crippled with infrastructural and communication problems. This has hampered the smooth functioning of the branch, making the customers undergo untold sufferings.
A senior employee of the branch, which is also the only chest branch in the district, said since the last one year the branch has been paying a rent of Rs. 39,000/- monthly to the owner of the new building. However, the RBI has prevented the branch from moving to the new building as there is no hotline connectivity.
“We have written an official letter to BSNL to give us hotline connection and also apprised the problem faced by the branch to the concerned authorities but so far the issue has not been addressed, making the branch and the customer to bear all the inconveniences,” the employee stated.
Sharing more problems of the branch, he disclosed that the branch could not use the fax machine and landline facility, as there is no BSNL service in the district. “Even the ambiance of the bank is pathetic comparing to the other state banks in the state, as the present building is in pathetic condition and may collapse anytime,” he stated.
It was further informed that compared to the volume of the customers, there is shortage of staff in the branch. The employee hoped that the authority concerned will deploy more staff to the branch as it has a good potential to grow. Customers in the branch also stated that the present branch office of the bank is very stuffy with very few staff. It has no place to sit and many a times the internet link is down, which only compounds the existing problems. Aslei, a senior citizen said, due to lack of space, no proper counter and no sitting arrangement, “we don’t have time to share our grievances in detail to the employee of the SBI...”
The business community in the district has also been suffering with problems in transactions. Moreover, it was informed that many of the schemes are also not implemented in the branch.
