General pubic continued to face problems due to demonetisation of currency notes of `1,000 and `500 as banks ran out of cash and most of the ATMs which were supposed to start disbursing currency on Friday remained non operational. The arrival of the new currency notes in the banks too got delayed and senior officials are hoping that the situation would take at least three days to get normal.
Meanwhile long queues of people anxious to exchange demonetised currency were witnessed outside the banks for second consecutive day on Friday. Most of the nationalised banks barring State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) refused exchange of currency to the customers as they ran out of cash.
The Manager of district lead bank Gopal Singh Rana told The Pioneer that more than `300 Crore was deposited by the customers in the banks of Dehradun on Thursday. He informed that the district has 532 bank branches with about a network of 1,600 ATMs. Rana said that the banks with chest services are managing to disburse cash to the customers but others are not able to do so in absence of cash.
Giving an example, he said that the small currency notes of `10, 50, 100 and coins were transferred by the PNB from Tehri to the branches of Dehradun where the demand is very high. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has restricted exchange of currency to `4,000 per person. Rana said that a form (Annexure 5) is required to be filled by the customer along with identity proof and one can avail this facility one time only.
Before exchanging the currency the banks are feeding the details and the identity proof number in the system. On Friday many people who had exchanged currency on Thursday again landed in other branches for exchange but were refused by banks as the system caught them. The assistant General Manager (AGM) SBI, BK Verma told The Pioneer that one can withdraw a sum of `10,000 from one’s account per day but there is no restriction on the money deposited in the account. He also said that the new currency would take at least two days to get disbursed.
It was learnt that the new currency for SBI arrived in the State capital on Friday afternoon while the consignment of PNB and OBC was awaited. These three banks have chests in Dehradun (SBI- three, PNB and OBC one each). It is worth mentioning here that the RBI moves currency via the medium of rail network to ensure safety of consignment.
The patience of many people who were refused cash on the day seemed to vane. “What crime we committed that we are made to stand for hours together to stand in long queues only to be told that the cash has finished. It is our money and we are not able to withdraw it. The Government should have made adequate preparation before taking the step of demonetisation,’’ said Sukhdev Singh Bisht a senior citizen and resident of Raipur road.
Rakesh Sharma of Deepnagar was of the view that people should cooperate with the Government which has initiated a battle against the black money.