 "I constantly stand outside the ATM without lunch or dinner: ATM Gaurd")
Earlier this week, at around 2 am, a small group of men got into a heated argument with the guards manning an ATM in the Dalhousie area of Kolkata. Their cause of frustration? The ATM, belonging to a public sector bank, had apparently run out of money. Soon, the crowd threatened to turn violent.
Fearing for their lives, the guards hurriedly pulled down the shutters and took refuge inside. Their woes, however, did not end there. The men kept banging at the gates of the bank for the next one hour.
“Earlier, the ATM was open the whole night but after that incident, we make sure we shut it down at 9 pm,” says one of the guards posted at the ATM. The government’s demonetisation drive has clearly left ATM guards in a sweat — for most, managing the crowds has been a terrible hassle.
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“Every day, for 12 hours — from 10 am to 10 pm — I constantly stand outside the ATM, without having lunch or dinner,” says Uttam Kumar Dey, a guard at a private sector bank in another part of Kolkata. “Customers, on the other hand, are taking out all their anger on us. We’ve also had to call the police a few times.”
Apart from dealing with public fury, guards have had to work ridiculously long hours for the last one week. “We take turns to go home. If I go home today, then it will be my colleague's turn tomorrow,” explains Dey.
While putting in the extra hours is not a problem for Kolkata’ security guards, they only hope that they would be paid extra for it too.
