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Down to Earth

Tackling Tardiness in Bank Functions

By A S M Nurunnabi
Speed to the spirit of mod era time*. But in many field* of our hfe. this doe. not Mem to be appreciated Take, for In stance, the minor task of withdrawal of money front a bank, which is routinely undertaken by a large number of l*eDiere are two classes of banks In our country: one the nationalised one. and the other, those tn private sector Again. whereas tn most of the branches of nationalised banks, account* are maintained man branches of the private banka maintain computerised accounts The latter have obvious advantage tn attending to their clients more expeditiously
As the nationalised banks have not yet Introduced computerised system of acepunts, a client routinely suffers delay when he goes to withdraw money particularly from their big branches. Normally, such branches handle large crowds of clients on most days. The procedure of withdrawing money is an old one. First. the client gets a token after presenting his cheque. Thereafter. he waits 20 to 30 mln utes. while his cheque passes through a couple of stages of entries tn bank ledgers. When his cheque Is finally cleared for payment at the bank counter, a small crowd has already gath ered before It. There one has to jostle to find out if one • cheque has reached the counter. The jostling could have been reduced if the bank staff had played a part In announcing the number of token. received at the counter. At smaller branches, however, the payment is quicker, the number of waiting clients being not large.
As a measure to improve the situation, we do not expect introduction of computerised system all over or the automatic withdrawal system as In the West. in the near( future, but we can at least expect reduction in the waiting time If the bank functionaries make themselves more alert and
prompt In dealing with cheques. The bank authorities should think ways and means of achieving this
One other problem which has proved constantly frustrating Is the existing system of payment of bills through specific banks for use of electric Ity, gas. water, telephone, etc. Specific areas have been allot ted to different branches of na tlonaliscd banks for collection of such bills. It is, however, no easy job for the bill payers to make their payments through this system
How can we explain long queues of persons at certain branches, and much less con gestion at other branches? This may perhaps be due to inequitable distribution of specific areas among the re celvlng banks. As a result, some bank branches may be dealing with larger number of consumers than others. More over, some bank branches, for Instance, Janata Bank branch located near the Dhaka College gate on the Mlrpur Road, has been entrusted with collection of the whole gamut of the categories of bills, such as telephone. electricity, gas. municipal tax, Jiban Bima premium. TV licence fees, with the only exception of WASA bills which are collected by Agrani Bank branches. This Janata Bank branch has perhaps within Its Jurisdiction a larger area with a heavier density of consumers than in other areas.
In most branches, the suffering of the waiting bill payers is compounded by a double formality: first to collect the scroll number by forming one queue and then to form another queue to make payment. Since each queue becomes a long one, the whole exercise is exasperating and exhausting and normally takes one hour to one and a half hours to complete one's business. The tortuous process tells heavily particularly on elderly people. Moreover, there may be many persons In the long queues who, keeping away from their
office* and bualneu establishment*, have to acquiesce tn the inordinate wastage of their time. Often some person* with sheafs of bills are found to take their place In the queue From this it is suspected that those persons are Mme kind of commission agent* working on behalf of bonafide bill payers who get their service* with small payment. There persons are found to be mostly responsible for the slow movement of the queue
For easy collection of revenues of the various agencies, consumer* in general feel that It Is Incumbent on the concerned banks to devise mean* of easing the system for pay ment of bills. In the opinion of some observers, the relief that can be provided Immediately Is to do away with the existence of double queues — one for tak Ing scroll number and the other for making payment In some smaller branches a sin gle queue system Is already found to be in operation.
To ensure quick movement of the queue and to deal with the commission agents', a separate counter may be arranged for those persorts who carry more than five bills This system is followed in the GPO for franking letters. Some arc also of the opinion that the heavy congestion In some branches may be reduced If additional arrangements arc made for receiving payment, particularly of those bills the number of which is comparatively large. It is also felt that persons taking position In the waiting queue within banking hours should not be turned away on expiry of the timelimit. Arrangement may be made for receiving their payment also.
A citizen deserves all facilities to make payments of the various bills in an expeditious manner. It therefore, behoves the concerned authorities to give careful consideration to all available remedies in the Interest of greater collection of Internal revenue.