The Jammu and Kashmir Bank has been asked to stop cash transactions across 40 branches in two districts of Jammu and Kashmir, but it has nothing to do with the Digital India programme of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Cashless India drive that is being carried out across India!
These 40 branches in Shopian and Pulwama districts have been identified by the J&K government as "vulnerable" following a spate of bank robberies by terrorists in the state, and have been told to stay away from handling or transacting in cash to avoid such attacks.
There have been at least five-six bank robberies in the past couple of weeks in J&K, and some of them have even been really bloody. In one such incident, the terrorists targeted the cash van of J&K Bank. They not only robbed cash in the van, but also killed five policemen and two civilians who were in the vehicle!
In another instance, terrorists robbed two banks within a span of two hours. They made off with close to Rs 6.3 lakh that day. Combined with the cases of rifle-snatching taking place in the state, these incidents of bank robbery are being seen as efforts being made by terrorists to boost their activities.
However, that has received a setback, with the J&K government issuing an advisory to the effect that 40 branches of the J&K Bank should stop dealing in cash.
"These branches will not be shifted and will function normally. However, a customer can neither deposit nor withdraw cash. In a way, these bank branches will be cashless and will do business in receipt form only. A customer can deposit cheques and transfer money," a bank employee was quoted as saying by the Times of India.
Another J&K Bank employee told PTI: "We were told that the security agencies have inputs about more such attacks, so we had to stop cash transactions at these branches designated by the security agencies as sensitive."
This means that like it or not, these banks and their patrons will have to join the Cashless India drive of the Central government, which aims at taking more and more bank transactions online, thereby cracking down on black money and ensuring that all transactions are over the board.
