After series of robberies, cash transactions stopped at 40 J&K bank branches

Srinagar: In the wake of a series of robberies blamed by the police on separatist militants, the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir have stopped cash transactions at about forty branches in southern districts of Shopian and Pulwama.

The bank authorities have issued formal orders imposing a ban on cash transactions while acting on an advisory issued by the police earlier which cautioned about possibility of more bank robberies in the area.  The issue was discussed threadbare at a meeting held by the State’s Finance Minister Haseeb A Drabu here on Friday.

The J&K police in its advisory asked the banks to stop cash deliveries at those branches which are located in sensitive areas of the twin districts of south Kashmir. The police officials had informed the government that there could be more bank robberies in these districts. The forty branches where the cash transactions have been banned are those of Jammu and Kashmir Bank, the largest bank of the State having maximum presence in south Kashmir districts, and Ellaquai Dehati Bank, a joint venture of Government of India, the J&K government and the State Bank of India set up in 1976 to help towards development of agriculture sector and rural economy in the State.

Gunmen believed to be militants went on bank robbery spree in the southern parts of the Valley past week during which they decamped with cash of several lakh rupees. However, the worst occurred on May 1 when five policemen and two bank guards were killed by gunmen in an attack on an empty cash van in Kulgam district, also in south Kashmir. The police says that it has gathered “irrefutable” evidence about the involvement of the Hizb-ul-Mujahedin cadres led by its local commander Omar Majeed in the gory act and announced a cash reward of Rs. 100,000 on his head. The Hizb had admitted to carrying out the attack but said that while it killed five policemen and snatched their service weapons, the two bank employees were shot dead by the CRPF.

The official sources said that the cash transactions have been stopped “as a precautionary measure” and that the order would remain in force “for some time”. They added that the people can go for cash transactions at designated bank branches in adjoining safer locations. However, the other bank work at the branches identified as vulnerable will continue as usual. Following the ban, the Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in many Pulwama and Shopian areas have gone cashless, causing much inconvenience to the people.