The common people’s woe continued unabated on Saturday in view of the currency chaos prevailing across the country following the Centre’s demonetisation move. In Dehradun, snaking queues were seen at the banks on the third consecutive day with the ATMs running out of cash soon after they were filled.
Most of the ATMs which were supposed to be functional since Friday remained cash- starved on Saturday too with the arrival of the new currency notes in the banks being delayed. However, the senior bank officials are optimistic that things would be better in three/four days.
Most of the nationalised banks barring State Bank of India (SBI) and Punjab National Bank (PNB) refused to exchange currency to the customers as they ran out of cash. Many of the customers sounded angry over the RBI having fixed that one person can exchange Rs 4000 once in a fortnight. “We wonder how we would manage things with Rs 4000 being a paltry sum, given the increasing expenses of living nowadays,” said a customer found standing in a serpentine queue at a SBI branch in the city.
The manager of the branch of a leading bank Gopal Singh Rana told The Pioneer that over Rs 700 crore had been deposited by the customers in the banks of Dehradun till Saturday. He informed that the Dehradun district has 532 branches with a network of 1,600 ATMs.
He further said that the banks with chest services are managing to disburse cash to the customers while others are grappling with grave fund crunch.
Rana said that a form (Annexure 5) is required to be filled by the customer along with the identity proof and one can avail this facility one time only. Before exchanging the currency, the banks are feeding the details and the identity proof number in the system, he informed.
Rana further said that one can withdraw a sum of Rs 10,000 from one’s account per day while there is no restriction on the money deposited in the account. “If one deposits more than Rs 50,000 we are asking him to declare the purpose of the deposition,” he said.
Rana further said that RBI delivering money to the SBI chest, the SBI officials are keeping the bills of Rs 100 with themselves while giving worn-out notes of lower denominations to the customers.
It was learnt that the SBI, PNB and OBC have chests in Dehradun (SBI-three, PNB and OBC one each). It is worth mentioning here that the RBI moves currency via the medium of rail network to ensure safety of consignment.
The patience of the people running thin on being refused cash, tempers are running high. “It is a crime to send us back empty-handed after we waited in the queues for hours, citing that the cash is exhausted. The Centre has landed us in deep trouble by taking the momentous decision without taking adequate preparations,” said Rajiv Shukla, a senior citizen, resident of Raipur Road who was one of the innumerable disappointed customers.
Another Jagdish Chandra Badola, a resident of Harrawala, however, struck a different note, saying that the people should bear with the situation in view of the Centre having declared an all-out war against the black money.