People in State capital were in for some relief as some ATMs started dispensing new Rs 2000 notes on Wednesday. The banks officials had made correction in these machines so that they are able to dispense new currency notes. However, the banks of the city are yet to receive new tender of Rs 500.
Most of the ATMs of the State Bank of India (SBI) in State capital were operational on the day and some of these ATMs were providing the notes of Rs 2000 due to which people visiting them were in relief. “Today I was able to withdraw money from the SBI ATM located on old survey road. My earlier attempts at the same ATM to get money yesterday failed as the machines ran out of the currency,’’ said Manish Rawat, a resident of Dl Road.
The Assistant General Manager of the SBI, B K Verma told The Pioneer that most of the ATMs of the bank in state capital were operational on the day. He said that some ATMs were calibrated to dispense Rs 2000 notes and in coming days more ATMs would be made ready to provide new currency notes. The report from the remote and mountainous areas indicate that many branches are yet to receive new currency notes due to which people continue to face problems. The residents of villages have to travel many kilometers to visit their bank branch and ATMs. The Chief Minister of Uttarakhand Harish Rawat had made an appeal to ensure that residents of mountainous areas don’t face problems while availing the service of banks. The Manager of District lead bank Gopal Singh Rana said, “Today I visited many branches located in the remote areas of the district. In Vyas Nahar branch of Punjab National Bank currency was provided to six foreign tourists who contacted the branch.”
The cash crunch in the banks following demonetisation of currency notes of Rs 1000 and Rs 500 last week is reflecting in the markets. The sale in most of the markets of city is down by almost 40 percent. The vegetable mandi is one of the worst suffer of this decision as the most of the transactions here are in cash only. “The input of vegetables in the Mandi has reduced by half. There are no buyers in the mandi these days,’’ said a wholesale merchant of the Mandi.