Guarding Jharkand’s banks with bows and arrows

Security personnel are being armed with traditional weapons to take on Maoist rebels

RANCHI: Guns and revolvers are out. Bank guards in Jharkhand — known as a hotbed of Maoist rebels — are being armed with bows and arrows.

In Tamar block, around 70 km from the capital Ranchi, banks have equipped security personnel with bows, arrows, sickles and other traditional weapons.

Reason: Banks says they’re better than the ‘lathis’ or long bamboo batons the guards were earlier being provided with.

“Security personnel guarding banks with bows and arrows are better equipped.  In June, thieves looted Rs67,895 from our bank and the guards, who were armed with batons and sticks, failed to do anything,” said Krishna Ram, branch manager of Punjab National Bank, Tamar.

Other banks like the Gramin bank, Bank of India, Union Bank are loading up on similar ammo.

More than 50 bank robberies have taken place in Jharkhand in the last three years. Bank officials point out that repeated requests to their head offices to arrange for proper security have gone unheard. They’ve raised the issue several times with the police too but nothing has come of their repeated complaints.

Jharkhand police have said it is not possible for them to spare security personnel to guard banks. The state police have asked banks to raise a special force and bear the expenses.

In rural areas, Maoists raid banks at regular intervals and at some places, banks have closed their branches due to this.

The Reserve Bank of India and State Bank of India on a regular basis issue dos and don’ts for banks located in rural areas to guard against Maoist threats.