People standing in long queues outside banks at Saket and Malviya Nagar gave positive feedback to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s demonetisation scheme. Majority of them were of the view that every change takes some time to adapt and any good move shall reap fruits.
While majority of them said the problem will only persist for a few days and normalcy will return after ATMs start operating properly again, others said the sudden announcement was uncalled for and that new Rs500 and Rs1,000 notes should have been printed for the time being instead of Rs2,000 notes.
The entire stretch from Saket J block to PVR was chock-a-block with hundreds of people eagerly waiting for their turn to exchange their banned legal tenders. The queue was long enough to reach up to the road and cause traffic disruptions.
Wiping sweat from his forehead, Sitar artist Prabhdeep Singh said he is in support of demonetisation and that it is a matter of inconvenience for just a few days.
“This is short time pain but long time gain. I bought my headphone so that I remain calm until my turn arrives. The announcement is a direct blow to the black money hoarders. The effect of demonitisation is seen as anger on the common people but it is the corrupt who are actually having a tough time,” said Singh adding, “But the corrupt will always have its way out.”
Every bank in Saket and Malviya Nagar had three separate queues merging into one at the entry door of the bank. One line was for women, the other was for senior citizens and the other was for men. Two to three police personnel were deployed at each bank to prevent any sort of undesirable activity at the venue.
Roshni, a housewife, who stays in Saket l block, said, “last day my husband had come to withdraw the money and he would have come even today but he told me that he had to go to office for an important meeting, hence I am standing in the line today. My husband Mukesh works as a consultant in Albright Stonebridge group and both of us feel that this move is a good one. We are not at all affected by it as we always went about the legal way. Yes but all that we face today is grave inconvenience which is majorly because of ATMs being closed and non-functioning.”
Roshni said once the ATM problem is solved then this so ‘emergency’ would end. Meanwhile, a group of youngsters standing in a queue at Axis Bank opposite Saket PVR were upset with the policy of demonetisation scheme.
“We have been waiting to exchange old notes and withdraw cash for a long time. It is a Tuesday. Don’t we have our jobs to doIJ What if we lose our jobs because of standing in queues outside banksIJ Atleast the Prime Minister could have come out with new Rs500 and Rs1,000 rupee notes. The Rs2,000 note is currently useless for us as we can buy our day to day products with them,” said Sajid, who has a clothes shop in the nearby Hauz Rani.