The bank is allegedly flouting RBI norms

Led by Punjab National Bank most banks in Delhi are flouting norms issued by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) pertaining to visually impaired people’s accessing banking services.

Registering their protest against the discriminative and unfriendly behaviour meted out to them, some visually impaired people have called for a legal action against the bank.

On December 5, The Tribune had reported about Renuka Bhagat who was denied an ATM card by PNB for over three years as she is partially blind. Bhagat has an account with the bank’s Hauz Khas branch.

Mahesh C Panicker, another blind person and resident of Lajpat Nagar who works in Lady Sri Ram College, also narrated his struggle in getting an ATM card from PNB.

Urging that PNB should be taken to the court for its whimsical ways towards the marginalised section, Panicker said, “PNB is the most difficult when it comes to ATMs and other facilities for the disabled. I was denied an ATM card by the bank’s Greater Kailash branch for seven months and got it only after RBI’s intervention.”

Eyeway project programme manger Pranay Gadodia said, “RBI’s master circular that was issued to all banks last year spells equal treatment for all, including those with visual impairment. But the latest circular of PNB in February 2009 contradicts RBI’s guidelines, as it has asked a blind customer to get a witness for his/ her transactions. We receive at least one complaint daily on this matter. However, cases are not limited to PNB alone, as we get cases from other corporate and public sector banks.”

In 2004, an NGO named Score Foundation had started the Eyeway project — a knowledge resource programme for the visually-impaired.

Canara Bank (CB) and the Bank of Baroda have also been reportedly showing biased treatment to the blind section.

Shobhan Singh, a blind student of Delhi University, has been trying to get an ATM card from CB for the past two years. He has even complained to the bank’s divisional manager and RBI ombudsmen, but to no avail.

Gadodia said RBI should be proactive and conduct time-to-time auditing of the in-house policies of all banks.

In Renuka’s case, he said, “I had sent an e-mail to RBI on December 21, attaching PNB’s current circular with RBI’s directives, but as of now, there has been no response. However, yesterday Renuka received a courier containing the ATM card and an undertaking.”

Refusing to sign the undertaking, Renuka said, “The law does not require me to sign any extra document. Why should I accept any second-class treatment?”

According to Gadodia and disabled rights activist Subhash Chandra Vashishth, there are some pre-conceived notions in society about life with blindness. “Society feels visually impaired people cannot protect their own interests and, hence, they are denied their rights. They have been compelled to live a marginalised life,” they said.

Interestingly, Dena Bank (DB) which used to issue cheque books, ATM cards, along with netbanking facility to blind customers till March 2009 discontinued the service on PNB’s lines.

Vashishth said, “Similar cases have been reported from other cities of the country. Vijay Chavan, who had a saving account with Jogeshwari branch of DB in Mumbai, enjoyed facilities of cheque book and net banking, encouraged his friends having accounts in PNB to ask for the same. But after PNB’s manager approached DB officials at Jogeshwari, DB stopped clearing Chavan’s cheques. This made him to cancel his account.”