Banks in Bhuj collapsed but money remained safe

Banks in Bhuj collapsed but money remained safe
MILIND GHATWAI

BHUJ, FEB 18: It may mean nothing to those who lost their dear ones but survivors can take heart from the news: none of the 21 banks in this ravaged town has lost a single rupee deposited by customers.

Their valuables have been retrieved from the debris. After human beings it was banks where attention was focused, for organised gangs were reportedly on the prowl, ready to extract their pound from rubble.

Given that cash and deposits worth crores were lying under the debris, it was left to the Army to supervise the operations. Even the local branch managers had to prove their credentials to the administration and the Army before the valuables and records were touched.

All the while anxious customers hanging around, wanting to know whether their life's savings, ornaments and deposits were safe. A young woman even forced her way through an army column to reach her locker containing jewellery.

On Monday, the last of the banks threw open its rented premises to their customers. All the other members of the clearing house are getting reconciled to the idea of operating from new premises, including tents, they have been forced to move to.

``First they wanted to know whether the valuables were safe, now they are making a beeline for depositing their valuables,'' says Kirti Shah, deputy manager, the State Bank of India. Tent homes obviously do not invoke confidence.

The 12 Engineer Regiment of the Army carried out the most difficult operation in Madhapar, one of the richest villages in Gujarat, owing deposits worth hundreds of crores to its NRI population.

The ground-floor building of Corporation Bank in Madhapar had been pushed underground by the massive weight of three top stories. The bank had cash and records of deposits worth as much as 33 crore. A team of 20 military personnel had to dig tunnels up to 15 feet below the debris to reach the lockers.

The operation took five days but every rupee of the customers was accounted for. ``Even the bank manager's chair and name plate were retrieved from the debris,'' says Colonel Gurudip Singh.

The bank operations were tough since once they started, the Army could not abandon the premises even for a minute. Night vigil became a must to ensure the safety of the valuables. ``But for the Army the bank would have taken years to come on its feet,'' says a bank official.

The engineering skills of the Army personnel came handy. Computerised branches had to be handled differently as floppies had to be retrieved from under the rubble. At Bhuj's Syndicate Bank, a manufacturing company's employees threw their hands up, leaving the lockers to the armymen who did not take much time in opening them. Every floppy from the debris was retrieved.

The Bhuj Commercial Cooperative Bank Limited was the first bank to resume operations, four days after the tragedy. Bank officer Rasik Thakkar says the bank was lucky in that it did not suffer much damage enabling the management to operate from a tent pitched next to the old building. ``We were the first to be back in business.''