As chaos and harried masses remained the underlining trend on the third day of the Government’s demonetisation move, incidents of vandalism and looting were reported from different parts of the country, a pointer to the fact that the patience of the people was gradually wearing thin.
Nevertheless, positive outcomes were being reported too. Sample this: As many as 28 urban local bodies in Maharashtra have collected Rs217.45 crore from citizens towards payment of various utility bills and Government dues through the Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes; post-offices across Maharashtra and Goa have collected and exchanged demonetised currency notes worth Rs435 crore within two days; and Tiruchirappalli and Madurai corporations in Tamil Nadu have clocked more than Rs2 crore receipts in the last two days as against a net average collection of Rs40-70 lakh on normal days.
Fatigued people, including senior citizens and disabled, in serpentine queues, agitated crowds, dried-out or non-functional ATMs and out-of-cash banks marked the weekend both in the national Capital as well as elsewhere across the country. If a fair price shop was looted by the locals at Bardaha village in Chattarpur in Madhya Pradesh, then angry customers waiting outside a branch of the State Bank of Travancore in Kollam district allegedly broke a glass door, after the bank downed its shutters due to the heavy rush. While an SBI branch in Moradabad in UP was vandalised as it closed at 4 pm, there was ruckus at another of its branches in Nuh, Haryana.
Reports of people clashing with the police, pelting stones at ATMS, banks and public transport and the latter resorting to lathi-charge came in from Bihar besides Gujarat.
There was an instance of a doctor attached to a nursing home in suburban Govandi in Mumbai allegedly refusing to treat a premature baby as the parents could not pay the necessary deposit due to the demonetization. A case was registered against the doctor by the father of the newborn.
While a 47-year-old farmer died after suffering a heart attack while standing in line to exchange notes in Anand in Gujarat, there was also this curious case of 19 demonetised Rs1,000 notes in a torn condition being found flowing in Ganga River at Nayaghat area in Mirzapur in Uttar Pradesh resulting in the boatmen there getting into a fight after spotting them.
In Delhi, there was little business despite it being a holiday as most of the markets were either closed or had no customers due to the cash crunch. Roads witnessed lesser number of vehicles across the city, multiplexes and single cinema halls were empty, and liquor shops had few clients. Even the locality’s pop-and-mom stores have taken a hit.
Tempers flared at many places outside banks and ATMs as tens of thousands of anxious people waited for the third consecutive day to deposit or exchange their demonetized currency or to take out cash. People even complained of banks exchanging the scrapped notes with coins and small denomination currency.
Rumour mills through social media added to the prevailing chaos in the Capital. In Chandni Chowk, owing to large crowds outside ATMs, a rumour spread that there was a stampede in which four people were injured. Senior police officers later denied it and resorted to the social media to urge people to maintain calm and peace.
As many as 3,400 personnel of paramilitary and Delhi Police along with 200 quick reaction teams were deployed at ATMs. RAF jawans were also deployed at certain points to monitor the situation.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav asked all District Magistrates to make necessary arrangements in coordination with banks in their areas to help provide new currency notes to people. He asked the officers to hold meetings with bank officials to ensure smooth exchange of new currency notes, especially in the rural areas, a Government release said.