Tiruchy banks deprive visually impaired people of availing ATM facilities on the grounds of their disability. This has added to their troubles as now they have to stand in long queues of banks for money withdrawals.
According to visually impaired people, this is a common practice across Tamil Nadu state where they are denied the ATM cards fearing that they may misplace it or it could be misused by someone else. When a differently-abled activist, M Kamaraj filed a case with the Madurai Bench of Madras High Court in 2010 regarding the difficulties that the disabled people face in banks, the Reserve Bank of India came out with a series of regulations.
I have been running from pillar to post for the past one year for an ATM card. Despite opening an account with the Woraiyur branch of a bank, I had to shuttle between my house and bank whenever I needed money despite an ATM kiosk being near my house. At a time when the visually disabled are easily using computers and smartphones, we are not receiving proper facilities from banks,” said P Maruthupandiyan, a resident of Ramanathanallur.
Even though the RBI has asked all the banks to ensure that all ATMs can be used by the disabled, the banks are denying the facility to the disables. Mostly all ATM machines are designed to be challenged-people friendly. PIN pads have Braille code printed on them. Screen narrators also present in ATM along with headphone jacks may be for privacy.
