Even 27 days after demonetisation, “cash crisis” continues in the national Capital with large number of people seen in queues outside ATMs on Monday.
In several parts of the city, people started turning up at ATMs late-night just to be lucky enough to lay their hands on cash. If some people were lucky to withdraw cash after standing in queues for hours there were many who had to return empty hand due to ATMs running dry.
More than 100 people were seen standing outside the Axis Bank at Noida Sector 16. Surprisingly even dry ATMs attracted desperate people in many places.
“I do not have cash for four days and today I decided to withdraw money at night. I started from Nehru Vihar and then GTB Nagar, Modal Town, Gopal Pur and finally found an ATM in Nirankari Colony but could not find cash anywhere. All the ATMs in this locality are either dry or out of service," said Rahul Purohit , a resident of North Delhi's Nehru Vihar.
Shreya Sahni ran out of luck just as the ATM ran out of cash when her turn came. After standing in the queue for around two hours outside the SBI ATM in Model Town she was not able to withdraw cash.
"The ATM ran out of cash just when there were only eight people left. I am frustrated as I wasted my precious hours standing in the queue for nothing."
A 35-year-old Sanjeev Jain, a businessman at Mahendru Enclave, said the decision to weed out black money may yield results in future but right now people are suffering a lot.
“I have to manage my family expenses. Payments, including school and tuition fees of my children, need to be made. On Sunday I was behind only two people at one ATM, but cash was finished. It was so irritating,” said Sanjeev.
Many people in North Delhi said they took a day off just to withdraw money.
"The shopkeepers in my locality have stopped giving essential items on credit. I have to pay rent, electricity bill and maid salary all in cash. Now I do not have any clue what to do," said Amit Gupta, 36, as he stood at the ICICI ATM in Mukherjee Nagar for his turn.