This refers to the report, “Panic grips as ATMs out of cash” (April 18). It is not a happy situation that we are denied access to our own money from ‘legitimate outlets’ as and when we require it. What we have here may not be a full-blown ‘financial emergency’ akin to the ‘demonetisation’ days, but it is certainly a crisis situation. With ATMs running dry or not working, people are faced with the reality of going without cash to meet their daily needs and run their businesses. The denial by the Reserve Bank of India, (RBI) that there is a cash crunch in contrary to the ‘no cash’ signboards outside ATMs speaking for themselves. Cashless ATMs are no great advertisement for the buoyancy of the Indian economy.
The unexpected and unusual spurt in demand for cash may be partly because of the coincidence of festivals and marriages with the harvest season. There is also widespread speculation that a lot of money may have been diverted to poll-bound Karnataka. While we appreciate
fire-fighting measures like ramping up printing of notes, we want the RBI to explain why it, in the first place, barred the banks from ‘moving cash from one circle to another’ and failed to anticipate the cash crunch, recalibrate cash machines to accommodate newly-introduced currency notes and replenish them enough in time to increase supply and meet the demand for cash. It is just not enough that there is sufficient cash in RBI vaults and currency chests. ATMs should have adequate cash for people to withdraw cash. It is just not enough that there is sufficient cash in RBI vaults and currency chests. The ATMs should have adequate cash for people to withdraw cash whenever they want. The Government and RBI should act quickly to remedy the situation and stop giving the aam aadmi a fright as now and give no room for people to ask, Shouldn’t the Government manage the economy betterIJ