Speakers at the banking event on Monday. Picture by Bhola Prasad

Banking ombudsman of Bihar and Jharkhand Patric Barla, who was in Jamshedpur on Monday, said ignorance about redress mechanisms was the main reason why the number of complaints from city and state customers was dismal.

Barla came to attend the first awareness meet hosted by office of the banking ombudsman (Patna) in the city since the Banking Ombudsman Scheme was launched in 2006.

“In 2012-13 or specifically, RBI financial year July 2012-June 2013, we got 2,700 complaints from Bihar-Jharkhand of which only 633 were from this state, including 152 from Jamshedpur. We found most people were unaware about the existence of a banking ombudsman and so could not register their complaints. This is surprising for a place like Jamshedpur with high literacy of 87.5 per cent,” Barla said.

He added most complaints received from Jharkhand concerned pensions and ATM transactions.

Speaking to The Telegraph, Barla added directives had been given to regional managers of banks in the state to put up display boards with address, phone number and email id of the banking ombudsman as well as designated nodal officers looking after customer grievances.

Over 250 bank customers attended Monday’s awareness session at Tubemaker’s Club.

There are 27 issues on which customers can file complaints, including deposit accounts, clearance of cheques and drafts, remittances, ATM, debit or credit cards and loans and advances.