Hunting for cash kept people busy across Bengal today for the ninth day since the Centre pulled out Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes from circulation.
The banks and ATMs saw the familiar long but disciplined queues since sunrise, though those queueing up today had an additional reason to worry about as the government had lowered the exchange limit to Rs 2,000 starting tomorrow.
While some banks accepted cash, most of them stopped disbursing it mainly due to the cash crunch with a number of ATMs in and around the city putting up either a 'no cash' or a 'temporarily out of service' notice.
"I am here from Assam to pursue my MA in Calcutta University. My family sends money and I use my debit card to access it. The card expired last week and I am unable to pay my bills. Neither am I able to withdraw any money as I do not have a chequebook. I am left with a few Rs 500 currency notes to exchange...I have to skip classes to come to the bank everyday for this," Anirban Burman said.
The 21-year-old was standing in a queue with his friend, carrying an identity proof. Even after spending over two hours, there were around 15 persons ahead of him.
"I support the government's policy, but the implementation seems a bit flawed...It could have been done in a more planned and better way," he said.
Owner of a small saree shop at Shreeram Arcade Satish Mishra visited at least four banks since the morning before finding a relatively shorter queue outside the branch of a nationalised bank at India Exchange Place in the central parts of the city.
"I could not open my shop today. I had no other option but come to the bank myself. This is the third time that I had to keep my shop closed and visit a bank for money...It's hurting my business," he said, adding that the weekly withdrawal limit of Rs 24,000 was "too small" for businessmen.
"The government must consider this. Such an amount for a businessman is too small. And, in this wedding season, we are finding it very difficult to make payments and meet our needs," he said.
According to a senior official of the All India Reserve
Bank Employees' Association (AIRBEA), the situation is quite "challenging" for the bank employees who are doing their best to help the thousands of customers standing in serpentine queues.
Admitting that the supply of currency notes of smaller denominations was not sufficient to meet the "huge demand", the official said, "We are working on a war footing and trying to help our customers. But, there is no sign of any improvement in the situation."
There was no report of any untoward incident in or around the city, a senior official of Kolkata Police said.
"Like the last few days, there were long queues in front of banks and ATMs, but we have not received reports of any untoward incident. Everything was peaceful," the officer said.
