There seems to be a lack of effective coordination between the State Bank of India’s (SBI) Regional Office and its branches at Brahmapur coupled with poor management triggering discontent among the customers here.
The computer systems of the Bank are too slow due to congestion in bandwidth which the SBI authorities hardly pay any heed. The management needs to pay attention on expansion of bandwidth. It is also noticed that the firms which take the charge of maintenance (AMC) of various machines and equipment of the bank often do not respond promptly because most of the BMs fail to make such firms accountable for lapses. For instance, the printing quality of the Passbook updating machine of the SBI Gandhinagar/Dharmanagar Branch is poor causing inconvenience to the customers.
On the contrary, when a customer approaches the counter for updating the passbook on the ground that the updating machine is defunct or its printing is not legible, the staff hardly pays heed to such requests. Even though the passbook carries the bar code, the passbook updating machine often rejects the customers’ request for updating saying “ no bar code, contract your branch Manager”. It seems that the AMC firm neither updates the software nor tries to bring the machine in to order for which either the firm or the concerned BMs should be made accountable, said a customer.
Similarly, the Bhapur Bazar Branch of SBI which is one of the busiest branches of the city too suffers from not having inadequate stationeries. For instance, since last three days, a large number of potential customers and senior citizen account holders are unable to update their passbook owing to non-availability of bar code labels in the branch causing inconvenience to the customers. When a senior citizen wanted to know from the Chief Branch Manager of the SBI of Bhapur Bazar Branch here today, the CBM replied, “Bar code label stock has exhausted”. Customers also demand that the branch should have an exclusive one-stop counter for the senior citizens.
According to public perceptions, the bank’s regional office should evolve some mechanisms to regulate the day to day needs of its branches and ensure uninterrupted functions of its equipment and machines at place.