Chungthang residents dismayed with SBI’s continuing poor service

ALSO DEMAND REMOVAL OF DEFUNCT AIRTEL TOWER
MANGAN, 12 Oct: The State Bank of India (SBI) Chungthang branch has always remained suspect in the eyes of the people when it comes to providing quality service to customers here. For the past couple of years, the SBI service in this area has been, well, sluggish at best.
Villagers here have always been facing difficulties in terms of transactions, especially in times of emergencies when cash withdrawals are constantly denied citing “link failure”.
People here inform that SBI’s service got worse post the 18th September earthquake last year as compared to State Bank of Sikkim (SBS). Whenever, customers visit the bank for a transaction they have always been directed to go to Mangan SBI.
“This has hampered payment of school fees for our children and other important works”, complained Lendup Lepcha while speaking to NOW! The people here have requested for any other bank to replace SBI so that they do not have to face problems.
Meanwhile, residents of Chungthang have demanded for the immediate removal of Airtel Tower which has been installed here at Chungthang for more than a year without providing any services. Despite the public’s request for early activation of the Airtel network in Chungthang owing to the poor BSNL service, this tower remains defunct and abandoned, and now, an eyesore as well.

SBI contributes Rs 1 crore to CM’s Relief Fund for North Sikkim

GANGTOK, 03 Oct [IPR]: Chief General Manager, State Bank of India, Surender Kumar, handed over a cheque of Rs 1 crore to Chief Secretary Karma Gyatso here on 01 October. The amount was donated by SBI towards the Chief Minister’s Relief Fund in connection with the recent flash-flood and landslides that occurred in North Sikkim.
During the function the Chief Secretary expressed his gratitude to the State Bank of India on behalf of the State Government of Sikkim for their contribution and sympathy towards the people of the state.  He also appreciated the steps taken by the bank in terms of fulfilling its social responsibilities.
Similarly, the Chief General Manager SBI said that the officials of the bank visited many affected places and were touched by the loss of lives and infrastructure by the flash flood and landslide. Expressing their solidarity with the people of the state at the time of such a disaster the bank decided to donate the amount for the sake of the people of Sikkim, he added.

Misappropriation of bank funds under investigation at SBI Temi branch

INTERNAL INQUIRY UNCOVERS UNAUTHORISED TRANSFER OF Rs. 9 LAKH THUS FAR
GANGTOK, 13 Aug: It is now the turn of the State Bank of India to face charges of misappropriation of money with the Temi branch of the bank coming under the scanner following a complaint lodged by the Branch Manager. While a case has been registered under cheating and criminal conspiracy, the accused are yet to be identified even as misappropriation of funds amounting to over Rs.9 lakh by transferring of SBI funds into the accounts of private individuals has thus far come to light.
The current Branch Manager, NT Bhutia, the branch manager of the SBI branch at Singtam has been temporarily posted at the Temi branch for the internal inquiry underway there. It was during the internal inquiry, which is still underway, that the misappropriation came to light. As of now, the misappropriated amount is just over Rs.9 lakh but as the inquiry is still underway it is expected that the amount will go up.
As per reports, the malfeasance was detected during inquiry that funds had been unscrupulously transferreissd from the branch subsidy account (A/C no: 1189238857) to certain individual saving accounts. As of now the funds transferred have been traced to two individual saving accounts with A/C no: 317088108398 and 10364294006.
The amount transferred comes to Rs. 9,14,000. Subsidy account is the account into which various funds and loans provided by the Centre for certain schemes are released to the bank and is part of funds of the bank. This, it is informed, was between Rs. 40 lakh to Rs. 50 lakh with the Temi branch remaining in the account. It is from this fund that money was transferred to individual accounts.
It is suspected that this amount will go up as the internal inquiry is yet to conclude. The names of the account holders have also not been disclosed as yet. However, a criminal case has been registered at the Temi police station on charges of cheating, criminal conspiracy and breach of trust by a public servant.
The police have not actively intervened and are awaiting the conclusion of the enquiry after which a clear picture will emerge and also because the core banking system in operation.

Addl CS calls emergency meeting to discuss infrastructure status in North Sikkim

GANGTOK, 12 April [IPR]: An emergency meeting was convened by Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Home Secretary today in the Conference Hall, New Secretariat.
The meeting which focused on the North district issue was attended by the representatives of Border Roads Organization, Reserved Bank of India, State Bank of India, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., Food & Civil Supplies Department, STCS and D.C. (North).
The Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Home Secretary specifically issued directions keeping in mind the oncoming monsoon and that North Sikkim has been shaken by the earth quake of 18th September, 2011. She directed all the officers present in the meeting to ensure on emergency basis to cater to the public of North Sikkim that the necessary services with regard to telecommunication, road networking essential commodities including the supply of LPG and banking facilities should be restored and made available to the public of North Sikkim immediately.
D.C. (North) was specifically directed to tie up with the Officers of Reserve Bank of India, State Bank of India, Border Road Organization and Food & Civil Supplies Department and to ensure that all essential services are made available to the public of North Sikkim. She also directed Secretary, Food & Civil Supplies to tour North Sikkim and ensure the Buffer Stock of essential commodities are provided in respective godowns.
Additional Chief Secretary-cum-Home Secretary noted the various problems of BSNL and banking facilities and that of Food & Civil Supplies Department and ensured that their problems would be brought to the notice of the State Government and whatever assistance and support that is required will be taken up through the State Government.

Chungthang residents aggrieved with SBI and BSNL service failures

WANGCHUK BHUTIA
MANGAN, 10 April: The public and Panchayats of Chungthang have expressed dissatisfaction with the services of BSNL and the State Bank of India in the area. Due to BSNL’s disrupted service, for the past week customers of the SBI Chungthang branch have been facing problems in transactions because of link failures.
People have not been able to withdraw or deposit cash at the bank for the past week which has especially affected parents whose children are studying elsewhere.
The public also informed media-persons on 09 April that Chungthang has not been supplied LPG cylinders for the last 23 days and now people have no option but to use firewood.
Also, bad road conditions have already started hampering transportation even before the onset of monsoon and the public have appealed to the Food, Civil supplies and Consumer affairs department officers for buffer food stocks before the rainy season begins.
Even the CDMA network has been disconnected for the area which was provided in September 2011. With the monsoons just around the corner, the authorities need to take notice of such basic problems being faced by the public of Chungthang and take pre-emptive measures before it is too late.

SBI gifts VHAS an ambulance, TVs for Field Hospital

GANGTOK, 18 March: State Bank of India has donated an ambulance to the Voluntary Health Association of Sikkim [VHAS] under its Community Service Banking Initiative to augment the organisation’s efforts towards promotion and development of community health here. The Managing Director, National Banking Group,
SBI Corporate Centre, Mumbai, A Krishna Kumar, handed over the keys of the ambulance to the VHAS Executive Director, Dr BB Rai, yesterday. In his address, Mr Kumar informed that as the leading bank in the country, SBI has not only been doing banking but also helping out the people and the community through various initiatives. He informed that the SBI has been consistently assisting organizations working in the field of education and health, especially among the rural masses.
He further mentioned that SBI has 31 branches in Sikkim and encouraged the VHAS to continue with their community services. Dr Rai of VHAS in turn assured to continue with their community services especially in the rural areas. He assured the donated ambulance will always be kept ready in service for the people and announced that VHAS also plans to establish a good hospital in the state.
SBI Chief General Manager [Bengal Circle], Surender Kumar, mentioned that the SBI was trying to provide maximum benefits to the rural people in the state through its community services. He informed that annually the SBI earmarked 1% of its profit for such community service.
Earlier in the day, senior SBI official, led by the Managing Director, visited Nathula for two other social welfare programmes under which the SBI has released financial assistance of Rs One Lakh to the 63 Mountain Brigade for the renovation of the Sherathang War Memorial and also donated 32 LCD television sets for the 317 Field Army Hospital located near the Nathula border.

Miscreants attempt to steal from ATM

GANGTOK, 06 Feb: Some miscreants have vandalized the ATM belonging to the State Bank of India located at 5 Mile, Tadong near the Central Referral Hospital. The vandalism aimed at stealing money from the ATM however did not cause much loss to the bank as the miscreants could not extract any money. The outer cover of the cash vault was found broken and was noticed by SBI officials who went to refill  the machine on the morning of 4 February. The vandalism is informed to have taken place at the night of 3 February. No one has been arrested so far and the Sadar police is investigating into the incident.

Namchi SBI officer accused of ‘misbehaviour’ by Kitam resident

GANGTOK, 08 Jan: Suresh Kumar Subba of Kitam in South Sikkim has accused a Field Officer of State Bank of India, Namchi Branch, of misbehavior when the former went to the bank to receive the last installment of his Home Loan on Saturday.
In a letter released to the press, Mr Subba informs that when he visited the bank to apply for the last installment a few days back, he found that the loan had been sanctioned, however, the insurance of his house had been done without consulting him and the amount debited from his loan. When he complained to the Field Officer regarding this, he was assured that the matter would be solved by the Regional Office.