Hyderabad, Mar 31 (UNI) Days after the Union Government had announced to pass on various benefits to large number of beneficiaries through banks in view of the 21-day Nation-wide lockdown, Indian Banks' Association (IBA) has directed the banks to implement token system in branches to manage the crowd.

The IBA had taken the decision after All India Bank Employees' Association (AIBEA) had taken up the matter with Department of Financial Services, Ministry of Finance, Government of India.

Looking to our concerns and in view of the present lockdown conditions, social distancing norms and to ensure seamless disbursements to the beneficiaries in the branches, IBA had passed on the instructions to the Banks, AIBEA General Secretary Ch Venkatachalam said in a circular to all its office bearers, state federations and All India Bank-Wise Organizations.

He said the IBA had instructed the banks on Monday to implement token system in Branches in order to manage the crowd, say around 200 Tokens to be issued per day to beneficiaries as per the capacity in each Branch.

The IBA had also said Customers having RuPay Card to be encouraged to use Electronic Channels like ATMs/AEPS to withdraw cash.

Mr Venkatachalam said with the announcement by the Government of India of various benefits to be passed on to large number of beneficiaries through the Banks, there have been lot of apprehensions about the effective management of the payment and disbursal, especially in view of the lockdown conditions and risk of virus infection if large number of people come into the Branches.

He asked the office bearers/state federations and All-India bank-wise Organizations to convey/inform these instructions to branch units so that they may manage the situation accordingly.

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