COVID-19: Banks in Bengal to transact till 2 pm

Kolkata, Mar 23 () Following the lockdown in mostparts of West Bengal in view of the coronavirus outbreak,banking transactions in the state will be reduced by two hourstill 2 pm instead of 4 pm from Tuesday, an official of theState Level Banker's Committee (SLBC) said here.

The decision was taken at an SLBC meeting on Monday.

Ashok Pradhan, MD & CEO of the United Bank of India(UBI), the convenor of SLBC in West Bengal, told thatbanks will carry out basic four operations -- deposits,withdrawals, remittances and government transactions.

"For the time being, banking transactions will be heldtill 2 pm. To observe social distancing, we will ask customersnot to come to the bank for passbook printing. It is beingsuspended for the time being," he said.

All rural branches will remain open, and in the metroswhere branches are concentrated within a certain area,services will be provided in a truncated manner as all of themare in CBS platform, an official of the UCO Bank said.

At the SLBC meeting, discussions were also held on howemployees will reach the office during banking hours due tothe lockdown when no public transport will be available, hesaid.

Banking services were exempted from the purview of thelockdown which will continue till March 27. dc BDCNN NN