Can you imagine that on just a single day, the people in the Hudhud cyclone-hit districts in Andhra Pradesh have withdrawn Rs 2.33 crore from 33 functional ATMs of Andhra Bank alone?

And, this was money was withdrawn just in 5,794 hits on ATMs. This also explains the continuous pressure on ATMs for money withdrawals in the three districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulam which are struggling to return to normalcy after they were badly hit-by the cyclone last Sunday.

Most of the ATMs in these districts are still non-functional even as banks are racing with time to restore normal operations. The waiting time at some functional ATMs is anything between one hour and four hours!

According to data obtained from Andhra Bank which is also convenor of the State Level Bankers’ Committee of AP, the total number of banks in the three districts is 1,142 out of which 715 are functional as on Friday.

The restoration of ATMs is rather slow owing to functional difficulties including connectivity and power. Out of 1,343 ATMs in these districts only 250 are now functional.

``We have restored functioning in over 90 per cent of our branches in the three districts of Visakhapatnam, Vizianagaram and Srikakulum but the pressure on ATMs is still continuing with people waiting in long-queues,’’ C R Sasikumar, Chief General Manager, State Bank of India (SBI) told Business Line here on Friday.

Out of a total of 128 SBI branches in Visakhapatnam district 98 are working while in Vizianagaram and Srikakulum 46 and 36 are working respectively. Both these districts have 49 branches of SBI each.

Andhra Bank too had commenced operations in most of its branches and has dispensed about Rs 2.33 crore cash through ATMs only on Thursday in 33 functional ATMs out of a total of 87 ATMs.

When contacted, a senior executive of Syndicate Bank said the slow restoration of ATMs was largely due to tardy progress in restoring power supply which was yet to be restored in most of the areas.

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