By Ramesh Mathew/Staff Reporter


Residents of Doha’s Matar Qadeem have stressed the need for more ATMs in the area in view of growing public movement and retail/commercial activities there.
The number of existing ATMs, they feel, is inadequate given that the area has emerged as one of the busiest residential and retail hubs in the city.
While there are quite a few ATMs located across popular shopping centres in the sprawling area, most of them become inaccessible at night when these places close for the day.
As these machines cannot be used from around midnight to 8am due to the closing hours of these shopping centres, the purpose of ATMs - of being accessible 24x7 - is defeated, the residents argue.
This leaves people with limited options, available in infrequent intervals along key stretches such as D-Ring Road and Al Matar Street.
Pointing to the dearth of ATMs along the bustling Al Matar Street, some residents said they find it difficult to access the existing ATM located at a crowded intersection due to perennial traffic congestion there. Another ATM located nearby has ceased to function, they said.
On the southern end of the area (towards E-Ring Road), people seem to have a bigger problem as ATMs are hard to find. One of the available options is an ATM at the Traffic Police office there, where the entry of the public is restricted after office hours.
People living on many of the internal roads in the area, including those connecting E-Ring Road with D-Ring Road, say they have to plan ahead if they want to use an ATM due to their poor availability in the neighbourhood.
Meanwhile, similar complaints have come from people who regularly visit the densely populated Doha Industrial Area as well.
One such visitor said he could not find an ATM anywhere on the nearly 2km stretch between the Al Watan petrol station on Street 33 and Al Attiya Market.
Residents of the area, mostly blue-collar workers, also stressed the need for more ATMs in the neighbourhood in view of the launch of the Wage Protection System.
Under this system, workers are to be paid their salaries through bank accounts. This, in turn, necessitates the use of ATMs to withdraw money. However, in the absence of ATMs in places like the Industrial Area, where a large number of labourers live, blue-collar workers will have to continue using ATMs in other places such as hypermarkets and malls. This has already led to problems such as overcrowding outside such ATMs as workers gather there in larger numbers to withdraw money, it is learnt.