'Unsafe' post office rooms keep Rs 53cr

Raiganj post office. Picture by Nantu Dey

TT, Raiganj, Nov. 23: The demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes has left post offices with Rs 53 crore, mostly in banned ones, that is being kept in insecure rooms as the State bank of India has run out of space to stock them.

With the SBI unable to provide strongrooms to keep the money, the post offices in Raiganj, Balurghat and Islampur are forced to store the cash deposited by customers, that is around Rs 53 crore, in sacks and trunks in rooms. The postal authorities have sought the help of police to ensure that the money is safe as they do not have strongrooms and night guards.

According to sources in the postal department, the Balurghat circle has 22 post offices each in North and South Dinajpur districts. After the Centre scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 9, it was announced that the currencies could be deposited in post offices and banks.

The money from the 44 post offices are supposed to go to an SBI chest branch in Karnajora, close to Raiganj. From the chest branch, the old currencies would be sent to the RBI. But this chest branch has no more space in its strongrooms.

The sources said the post offices usually kept the cash they received from depositors at the nearest police station each evening. The cash was then taken once in three-four days to the SBI's Karnajora bank.

Najmul Haq Choudhury, the divisional postal superintendent of the Balurghat circle, said the SBI had not been taking the deposits since November 11.

"We are facing a peculiar situation. We had around Rs 71 crore and after our higher authorities intervened, the SBI agreed to keep notes worth Rs 18 crore. We deposited that much cash with the SBI from November 16 to 20. The cash was distributed in six trunks that were locked and sealed with wax. The bank authorities have given us a receipt that only says they have received six sealed trunks with its contents unverified," Choudhury said.

The superintendent said at present, there was Rs 35 crore in Balurghat post office, and Rs 13 crore and Rs 5 crore in Raiganj and Islampur post offices, respectively.

"Our post offices do not have the infrastructure to store such a huge amount of cash. We have no steel vaults to keep cash. There are no security guards either. We have also asked the district administrations and police for help. We have got police posted in our Balurghat office but not in Raiganj and Islampur," said Choudhury.

He said the cash was kept in one room at the post offices in sacks, trunks and even ordinary shopping bags. "These rooms are not strongly protected and we are not being able to take extra security measures. If anything untoward happens, the SBI and the police should take the blame," Choudhury said.

He said the SBI had sent to the post offices Rs 9 crore in valid currency but the amount was insufficient. "Our staff is facing angry account holders and feeling very insecure."

Y. Srinivasa Rao, the regional manager of the SBI, Raiganj, said the bank's vaults did not have space left to store so much cash. "We have informed the postal department that we cannot accommodate its deposits at the moment. We have asked our head office to take the cash stored in our vaults. Only after our vaults are cleared can we take the deposits with the post offices," said Rao.

Told that the SBI branch in Karnajora had given "unverified" receipts to the postal department while taking six sealed trunks, Rao said: "The regional branch cannot accept deposits without proper verification. I will definitely look into the matter."

North Dinajpur police superintendent Amit Kumar Bharat Rathod said adequate security would be provided to the post offices. "We are giving security during the night at Raiganj post office. But we have not received any request for the post office in Islampur," he said.

North Dinajpur district magistrate, Ayesha Rani, said the Reserve Bank of India would be approached to take measures to solve the crisis.