Hyderabad: The security of banks and ATMs on the city’s outskirts and the IT corridor is in an appalling state.
Around 368 branches and 627 ATMs of major banks in Cyberabad do not have guards. 24 bank branches and 37 ATMs do not have even a single CCTV camera on their premises.
At least nine banks do not have even proper lighting. Ninety per cent of the ATMs in the city do not have a functioning magnetic locking system on their doors, says data collected by the Cyberabad police.
The police called bank managers to the commissionerate and warned them about the security lapses. The police will start booking cases under the City Police Act soon.
Cyberabad police said 251 top bank officers were called by police commissioner C.V. Anand to discuss the issue. The RBI general manager was also present at the meeting.
The police has asked banks to close down ATMs in vulnerable places. “ATMs must be located at safe places and should be visible to the public. Those in inaccessible, risky places should be closed down,” said Mr C.V. Anand.
The commissioner said that banks should be guarded round the clock. “At least two guards should be available at a time. All bank branches and ATMs should have high quality CCTV cameras covering both interiors and exteriors and a footage storage capacity of at least three months. The bank should also maintain video storagebackups without fail,” Mr Anand said The police has also set standards for CCTVs at banks.
“The camera should be not less than five MP. It should have night vision mode to record footage at night,” said Mr Anand. “All banks should have control rooms to watch their ATM CCTV footage from a centralised location,” he added.
The banks were also asked to install sensors that can detect hammering, drilling, welding, gas cutting etc.
“Alarms with phone alert links to bank officials and police stations should be installed in banks and ATMs. The doors of ATMs should have magnetic locks,” the commissioner said.
Senior police officials said they are ready to help bank security men upgrade skills. “The guards should be trained to respond to all kinds of emergencies and must be well versed with emergency numbers, police station contacts etc,” said a senior police officer.
