People, on Day-3 of demonetisation of Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes, appeared to be comparatively relieved as extra currency were filled in to most of the ATMs in Ranchi and other parts of the State. The State Government also reiterated that there was no shortage of currency and more cash was likely to be brought to Ranchi on Sunday so that banks could function smoothly.
“Situation is completely under control as two helicopters were sent to Patna RBI which carried cash for Ranchi on Friday evening. On Saturday also, two helicopters were sent to Patna which directly carried cash to Bokaro and Jamshedpur,” said Additional Chief Secretary Planning and Finance Amit Khare. A temporary arrangement was made to accommodate more cash boxes in it by removing the passenger seats from both the helicopters, added Khare.
Khare further pointed out that there was no shortage of currency right now except some local issues like ATMs were getting vacuous as soon as it was filled up due to large number of people queuing up for withdrawing money from them. “Another issue is maintenance of ATMs as there was heavy rush in them,” he added.
“looking at heavy rush in banks and ATMs, separate arrangement is being done for Ranchi and more cash was likely to be brought from Patna on Sunday also to fill up the ATMs and banks,” said Khare. Bank of India ATMs, however, could not become operational due to software issue while more than half of SBI ATMs remained fully operational during the day, he added.
A special arrangement was also made at Hatia Station for the pilgrims going on ‘Mukhyamantri Tirthatan Yojana’ where a total of 52 pilgrims changed their notes before leaving for Puri in Odisha, said Khare.
Meanwhile, police has been keeping a close eye on suspicious transactions and was continuously in touch with the Income Tax department.
“We are keeping a track on unusual transactions and are also in touch of Income Tax Department. Things are going on smoothly as nobody seemed to be fighting mode…people have been quite supportive in the last three days,” said Ranchi SSP Kuldeep Dwivedi. Volunteers like ‘Police Mitra’ and ‘Police Sakhi’ have been playing very crucial role in information gathering from various locations, he said.
Even people appeared to be quite calm and mad rush to the banks was not witnessed on Saturday after they got assured that ATMs actually had money in them.
“Situation today is better than yesterday as at least there is cash in ATMs. Although, it is getting emptied within hours, it is being filled up again and again by the bank officials so that people do not have to face problem,” said a resident of Ranchi Mukesh Bhai Patel. People also did not appear to be in a hurry to withdraw money once they ensured to have withdrawn enough cash to for their day to day expenses, he said.
Though there was heavy rush on counters meant for exchanging notes of higher denominations, queue on deposit counters remained comparatively shorter throughout the day in banks. People however, thronged on the ATMs resulting into long queues on them for withdrawing money from it.