For the last few days, most of us haven't been able to go home: Cash van driver

The cash crunch has meant that drivers are now ferrying cash even at night

Ever since the demonetisation of high-value currency notes was announced, Pratap Singh has been a busy man. As against the 250 km he drives on most days, Singh has been clocking more than 700 km every day for the last week, scrambling to replenish ATMs that run out of cash. In addition to driving around Lucknow, Singh has also been delivering cash to districts such as Sitapur, Basti and Balrampur, which are located not far from the city. The logistics company Singh works for operates 150 such cash vans.
 
“Usually, a driver works for eight to nine hours. For the last few days, though, most of us haven’t even been able to go home. The demand for cash is so high,” says Singh.
 
The cash crunch has meant that drivers like Singh are now ferrying cash even at night, something that they don’t do during the normal course. “Sometimes, we have to take a detour and travel about 200 km to deliver cash. The situation is that dire,” rues Singh.
 

So much so that his family has had to make frantic calls to his employers — since Singh doesn’t take calls while driving — to know about his well-being in the last few days.
 
In Singh’s case, his employers have been appreciative of his efforts. “I’ve been getting refreshments and the company has also ensured that I’m given decent accommodation to stay the night while on the move,” he says. Singh expects the situation to remain the same over the next couple of weeks. “Hopefully, it will start to ease after that.”