Berhampur, Oct. 20: The small number of ATMs that opened here for a brief part of the day today witnessed serpentine queues. Most ATM counters remained closed even a week after cyclone Phailin ravaged the district.

“We have money in our bank accounts, but no cash with us to buy essential commodities and meet our daily needs. Very few ATM counters are open in the city and one has to wait for more than an hour under scorching sun to withdraw money,” said Sanatan Moharana, a private company employee.

Moharana rushed to one of the few State Bank of India (SBI) ATM counters that was running on SBI Road in the city early this morning but found himself standing behind a queue of 19 people.

The city has more than 75 ATMs of various public and private sector banks and of these, 47 belong to the SBI.

Officials said 10 out of the SBI machines were working at the moment.

Following the cyclone, the entire district has been without power supply and many essential services, including banking and ATM services, have been hit.

“The staff opened the ATM and I was queuing up at around 9.30am. But they did not allow us to withdraw money till 10.30am because they said there was no linkage with the bank. We had to wait for more than two hours to draw money,” said P. Sarbeswar Rao, a retired government employee. The SBI officials dealing with ATM maintenance said since there was no power supply in the district, they were only opening ATM counters attached to branches.

“We can provide power from the generators of the branches and get links. But our off-site ATMs remain closed due to lack of electricity,” said Dibakar Patra, general manager (administration), SBI Berhampur division.

While 10 of the 47 SBI counters in Berhampur remained open, 25 of the around 50 ATMs are operational elsewhere in the district. The official said they were keeping a handful of ATMs open from 9am to 7pm.