PONDA
In view of recent incidents of stealing of ATM machines in the State, Ponda DySP Sunita Sawant on Wednesday convened a meeting of bank officials and asked them to follow the advisory of the Superintendent of Police.
Around 40 bank officials were present at the meeting.
It may be recalled that in July, burglars stole an ATM machine from Usgao containing cash of Rs 3.90 lakh. The CCTV footage showed three persons entering the ATM centre. Later, Ponda Police arrested a person from Gulabarg-Bijapur, Karnataka, but failed to recover the stolen money.
On August 5, a person from Bantwal-Mangalore was arrested red handed while attempting to break open an ATM at Warkhande-Ponda. Last week, an ATM machine was recovered without cash. It was stolen from Agarwada-Pernem. The ATM belonged to the State Bank of India and the burglars decamped with cash of Rs 18 lakh.
DySP Sawant said banks should take responsibility for providing ATM security and taking other safety measures. "I have asked the bank officials to sensitise the security. They should check their security gadgets, whether they are working or not," Sawant said.
South Goa SP Arvind Gawas had sent an advisory to 517 banks and financial institutions in South Goa. It was issued shortly after cases of thefts and burglaries were reported in banks and ATMs.
Sawant said installation of ATMs should be well planned. "Banks should install the ATMs properly, so that these can't be removed easily," Sawant told The Goan.
The advisory suggested installation of CCTV cameras with a 30-day data storage facility. Sources informed many banks have not even
made provision of registers, while alarms at ATMs are found defunct.
