Hundreds of thousands of people queued up outside banks and ATMs across North Delhi on Tuesday, a day after a bank holiday left people stranded with no way to access cash or exchange money. The queues in front of ATMs were longer as people feared the machines will run out of money soon.
A minor incident of scuffle between police personnel and those waiting to gain access inside banks was reported at Chandni Chowk after Canara Bank informed people that cash was finished. There is no separate queue for senior citizens and physically handicapped people at several branches at Chandni Chowk, New Delhi and Chawri Bazaar areas of North Delhi. Woman standing in queue complained of not having women constables at branches.
Bank official were found managing crowd and trying hard to make people understand about the situation.
“What can we do after distributing all the cashIJ It is difficult to convince people to go as no one is ready to listen. We too are human and working without taking a break. We closed the gate at 4 pm after distributing all the cash available with us and only allowed people who wanted to deposit money but soon people started shouting even after giving proper explanation,” said a bank official, posted with Punjab National Bank, Chandni Chowk.
RC Gupta, Assistant Manager at Canara bank, Chandni Chowk branch allowed a woman with heart ailment to enter into the branch even without making her wait in queue. His gesture was lauded by the people outside the branch.
KS Negi, 76, resident of Modal Town said, “Undoubtedly we are facing problem today but it is for a few days but I am very optimistic and happy that the next generation will remember it as historic move to eradicate corruption”.
Tayara Parveen, a student of School of open learning, in queue outside State Bank of India for three hours welcomed the Government step to demonetise the currency notes. “I have missed my classes for this week as I don’t have currency in lower denomination but still as an educated citizen of this country I know how to accept and respect the bold decision taken by our Government,” she added.
Crowd at ATMs were seen managed by people themselves with the help of security guard.
“I woke up at 4.30 am and ran to the nearest bank to stand in queue to avoid huge rush in the morning, and finally exchanged cash at 2 pm,” said Anamika Arora, a resident of North Delhi’s Chandni Chowk.
“You can’t depend on ATMs to get cash as they are running out of money in no time as when I came at 7:30 am and stood in a queue behind more than 50 people,” said Mohit Garg, a school teacher at private school in New Delhi area.
Manirul Islam, resident of New Delhi, standing in queue said he had closed his shop for exchanging money. “I have to deposit school fees for my children and I only have old notes of Rs500 so I decided to close the shop for a few hours and exchange money from bank,” he added.