Day 4: Chaos continues as queues get longer at banks, ATMs on weekend

Almost half of the country's ATMs are still non-functional

Banks and ATMs on the weekend witnessed more chaos and even longer queues as cash-starved people jostled to exchange and withdraw money, even as cash dispensing machines went dry soon after they were stocked due to heavy rush.

Long serpentine queues were witnessed at bank branches for the third straight day across the country. Similarly, people were seen impatiently waiting outside ATMs to withdraw money.

People, including elderly and women, in large numbers were queueing up to get the valid currency notes needed to meet their daily expenses.

Many ATMs, which reopened four days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of two higher value currency notes, ran out of cash in a few hours, leaving people frustrated.

 

To add to the misery, half of the ATMs are still non-functional, making people agitated about the lack of infrastructure preparedness for the note exchange programme. There are about 2 lakh ATMs across the country.

The endless wait to get valid currency notes is taking its toll on people waiting for hours in long queues as there were reports of many elderly people collapsing.

According to bankers, the situation is unlikely to change for some more time, maybe another 8-10 days.

They also expressed their apprehensions with regard to chances of the crowd becoming unruly for which they feel banks don't have adequate security arrangements.

Reports of chaos and scuffles at bank branches and ATMs streamed in from different parts of the country on Friday.

There were also reports of heated exchanges between hassled customers and overworked bank officials at several branches.

People have died while standing in line

Three people, including one in Mumbai and two others in Kerala, have died so far while waiting in long queues outside banks, reported Huffingtonpost.

A 40-yeral-old washerwoman died in Gorakhpur on Wednesday, allegedly due to shock after she learnt, having been unaware of the Centre's demonetisation move till she reached the bank, that banks would not accept denominations of Rs 1,000, reported Hindustan Times.

Situation grim in West Bengal

Serpentine queues were witnessed in front of banks as harassed people waited for hours to withdraw money in Kolkata even as ATMs ran dry on the second day after ATM withdrawal was allowed following a two-day moratorium. 

There were reports of damage to equipment in a SBI e-corner here as people vent their ire.

Despite efforts by banks to ease the situation, people complained that ATMs were running dry within hours of re-opening and timely refilling was not being done in the metropolis or in the districts. 

SBI CGM P P Senggupta told PTI that about 1,000 ATMs of 3,000 were functional and acknowledged there are problems in currency management with logistics limitation.

ATMs run dry in Tamil Nadu

People continued to face difficulty in exchanging scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on Saturday, with long queues before banks while ATMs ran out of cash in different parts of Tamil Nadu.

Only select ATMs were functional on Saturday also, leading to long queues and frustration among the people while banks continued to witness huge demand for cash.

At many places, public were frustrated and disappointed that they could not even withdraw the Rs 2,000 cash allowed despite standing for long hours in front of ATMs.

Since the recalibration for higher denomination of valid notes is being done for ATMs, the stock of low value Rs 100 got over very fast because of the huge demand, said a banker.

Taking into consideration the problems faced by people, the government on Friday extended the use of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for paying household utility bills, fuel, taxes and fees as well as purchases from co-operative stores by another 72 hours till November 14.