Police personnel of Uttarakhand who get salary online are in a fix as it is not possible for them to withdraw money after standing in long queues at the ATMs and the banks. A constable said, “Our duty being so fixed, I can hardly stand for hours in a queue to withdraw money credited in my account by way of salary.”
This correspondent while visiting several banks and ATMs in the city found people standing in lines to withdraw cash. “When things seemed to be coming back to normalcy after the first frenzied week or so they have come back to the square one with the time for withdrawing the just deposited salary having come,” said Amar Bhatt found in a queue outside an ATM kiosk on Rajpur Road.
A few police personnel were found returning from the money dispensing kiosks gloomily having found the queues too long for them to stand and wait in.
Things proved equally bad at the banks too. A policeman working at PHQ said, “I received the SMS confirming the deposition of my salary on Thursday. Enthused, I approached the bank to withdraw ` 20, 000. However, the bank went out of cash. The officials asked me to line up at the ATM and withdraw ` 2000. They failed to assure me when the bank would be replenished with fresh supply of money. The line at the ATM being a long one, I returned empty-handed, wondering how I would make ends meet with a new month having arrived.”
However, another police official this correspondent talked to looked relieved. “Though my salary was duly credited to my account on Thursday I have enough cash with me to carry on with the expenses for the next five/ six days. I will go to the bank or the ATMS after the cash I have is exhausted. However, I hope that things would not prove as trying as they did in the initial days. I support the move of the Prime Minister despite the difficulties it entails for the common people,” he said.
A constable deputed at SSP office recounted his tale of difficulty. “There would be a marriage in my family in a week. I need to withdraw the entire amount of my salary in one go. But I have failed to withdraw even ` 10,000 from a bank. The bank officials asked me to come again after 3 pm. But how can I frequent banks when I have to be on duty for ten to twelve hours at a stretch any dayIJ” he said.