Our Correspondent
Kohima | July 16
Perhaps, Kohima village could become the first village in the whole world to get ATM facility thanks to the Kohima branch of Axis Bank Ltd for installing such a facility in the village. Inaugurating the ATM facility here near Khedi Baptist Church, minister for higher education & urban development Dr. Shurhozelie Liezietsu said that villagers should feel grateful to Axis Bank for bringing such facility to the doorstep of the villagers. The minister considered such facility as a step forward towards improvement of the economy of the villagers. He was also appreciative of the Axis Bank for making this provision available to the villagers.
Recollecting the past days where there were no bank note but everything was in coin, he said that in those days there was no bank for which the rich people use to bury coins underground. But, he said “Today we see a great change,” adding that there are so many banks at our doorstep today.
The minister, however, said the people are yet to know the banking system and hoped that with the introduction of ATM the people will come to know it slowly. He was optimistic that the people will benefit from the bank and at the same time challenged the people to learn more about the banking system. Dr. Liezietsu also appealed to the villagers to avail the service of this bank. Also delivering short speech, Kohima Village Council chairman Atuolie Mepfhuo said that Kohima village may be the first village in the whole world to get ATM facility. He said that so far there is no report of ATM facility in any village in the whole world.
He was confident that the ATM will largely benefit the villagers. Earlier, chairing the function, Losü Nipuni, branch head, Axis Bank Ltd said the bank has 4293 ATMs in different part of the world as on March 3, 2010 and is opening ATMs every month. The bank will open another 400 branches in this financial year.
Kohima Branch was opened on 13-9- 2006 and will be completing 4 years by September. In journey of three years the bank has grown significantly and now it has about 9000 valued customers in Kohima branch. He said the provided ATM will not only serve its customers but it will also benefit all ATM holders of other banks. Stating that it is a common property, he called upon the people to maintain it well.
