Semester exams are drawing near. Every minute is precious for students to prepare for the exams. Wasting hours in long queues to get small cash for their daily needs is a luxury they can’t afford. However, students of the Delhi University are left high and dry ahead of the exams thanks to demonisation of Rs500 and Rs1000 currency notes.
Though the Government made relaxation allowing old notes for paying utility services, these students are not fortunate enough to use old notes to clear even their examination fees.
Sunday was no different across the country as serpentine queues continued to be seen outside banks, which remained open as per the RBI directive to deal with the unprecedented situation. People lined up before bank branches and ATMs from the early morning to withdraw money.
With banks scheduled to remain closed on Monday on account of Guru Nanak Jayanti, people scrambled to withdraw new banknotes to meet their daily needs and exchange existing high value notes.
Students’ plight was palpable as most of the students were seen going on foot in the North Campus of the Delhi University, which usually remains abuzz with rickshaw wallas, in which they commute across the vast campus.
“Where will we get change fromIJ Forget rickshaws, many of us are yet to clear examination fees and pay for print outs and photo copying of notes required for our exams and we need money for that,” said Rubina, a student of History (Honours).
From Krirori Mal College till Vishwavidyalaya Metro Station, there are around five ATMs and students complain that “on normal days also, some of them remain out-of-service”.
“Our campus is open campus. In these ATMs, outsiders have also formed queues. God knows how we can manage on weekdays. I support our Government’s fight against the black money but personally feel there should have been some kind of relaxation for students also,” said Shristi another DU student. She said that students don’t have money to pay to autos and rickshaws. “We walk from metros and end up reaching late.”
Scene was worse in Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) where a lot of visually-challenged students had difficulty to reach the only two ATMs which ran “out of cash too soon”. There are nine ATMS on the JNU campus. All were out-of-service except for the two. “There were minor scuffles also at the bank as the shutter just goes up and down, there hasn’t been enough money in this bank and students have wasted hours in queues... the situation is bad,” said a PhD student.
However, like many other supporters of the PM’s move, they believe that the “discomfort of today would become the virtue for tomorrow.”
Meanwhile the situation across the country remained chaotic as people continued to struggle to exchange their old currency notes with the new ones. Many returned empty handed after waiting for hours in the queue as by the time their turn came up, the bank counters ran out of cash.
In the national Capital, people continued to face hardship as they queued up in large numbers outside banks and ATMs to get cash to meet their daily need.
Heated arguments were exchanged as cash in ATMs and banks ran dry as the day drew to an end.
Rajbir Kaur of lajpat Nagar was distraught after she failed to exchange her old 500 notes. “I waited for more than three hours but I am returning back without any money,” she said with her voice suggesting what a harrowing time she had faced in her quest to get some money for household use.
A 68-year-old Manoj Singh expressed his frustration saying he was completely out of cash and had to borrow money from his neighbour.
“Even today there is no respite. I went to the bank and stood in the queue for sometime but then my legs began to hurt and I came back,” he said. Many people couldn’t purchase milk, vegetables, medicine as they didn’t have adequate Rs 100 notes. Those lucky ones having Rs 2,000 notes could not buy essentials as shop keepers were short on change to refund to their customers.
To manage anxious crowds, as many as 3,400 personnel of paramilitary and Delhi Police along with 200 quick reaction teams have been deployed at ATMs and banks.
In Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh, angry people clashed with bank employees and threw stones at the branch at Sujru village, leaving three persons including a woman injured. Police said as the branch ran out of new notes, the people who had gathered there in large numbers clashed with bank employees. Over a hundred people have been booked in connection with the incident.
Some people with accounts in cooperative banks in Maharashtra complained that they took longer time to get their money exchanged from such banks because of the cash crunch.
Meanwhile, workers from political parties including BJP, Shiv Sena, MNS and Congress came out to help the people standing in queues outside banks and ATMs in Mumbai, by offering them drinking water and refreshments like tea.
Though there has been some relief through such help from political outfits, the process of verification of notes, updating of accounts and printing it on passbooks were taking time, increasing the woes of people.
In West Bengal the sight of long queues in front of bank branches and ATMs across the state greeted people on the fifth day since the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes. There was also the unusual sight of large retail markets like lake Market, Gariahat and Maniktala in the south and northern parts of the metropolis witnessing little footfall compared to the usual sight of heavy crowd on weekends.
Meanwhile, two sacks with torn and damaged currency notes of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 stacked in them were recovered from a garbage vat in the southern part of Kolkata’s Golf Green area this morning.
In North Dinajpur district in north Bengal, the police seized Rs 1.60 crore in Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes from a private car on NH-34 under Itahar police station area.
In Kerala’s Malappuram, a 65-year-old woman was arrested and fake currency notes with a total face value of Rs 37,000 were seized from her when she allegedly came to deposit the high denomination notes at an SBI branch.
The accused, Mariyamma, visited the branch at Kondotty on Saturday to deposit Rs 49,500 of which bank officials found currency notes with a face value of Rs 37,000 to be fake. All the notes were of Rs 1000 denomination.
In Tamil Nadu, people continued to throng banks and ATMs to exchange or deposit scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for the fourth consecutive day, but many cash vending machines ran dry after a few hours. The RBI regional office here on Rajaji Salai attracted a continuing stream of people with the queue there extending to nearly a kilometre.