NEW DELHI, Nov 13: As serpentine queues continued to be seen outside banks and ATMs across the country today, patience wore thin among the hassled public leading to heated arguments and jostling, with banks and cash vends running dry soon after they opened their shutters.
With banks scheduled to remain closed tomorrow on account of Guru Nanak Jayanti, people scrambled to withdraw new banknotes to meet their daily needs and exchange existing high value notes after demonetisation of 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8.
In Muzaffarnagar in western Uttar Pradesh, angry people clashed with bank employees and threw stones at the branch at Sujru village, leaving three persons including a woman injured.
Police said as the branch ran out of new notes, the people who had gathered there in large numbers clashed with bank employees. Over a hundred people have been booked in connection with the incident.
In the national capital, people continued to face hardship as they queued up in large numbers outside banks and ATMs to get cash to meet their daily need.
Heated arguments were exchanged as cash in ATMs and banks ran dry as the day drew to an end.
Security was beefed up outside bank branches, after there were rumours about stampede, people plundering goods from a mall in Seelampur yesterday.
“Since it’s a Sunday, we expected more crowds outside banks and ATMs. We made adequate security arrangements to ensure no untoward incident occurs,” said a senior police official.
To manage anxious crowds, as many as 3,400 personnel of paramilitary and Delhi Police along with 200 quick reaction teams have been deployed at ATMs and banks.
At many places, people were seen running from one ATM to other as the machines ran out of cash.
Long, snaking queues continued to be seen outside banks and ATMs in Mumbai with those facing cash paucity complaining about having to wait for hours as the bank branches themselves were running short of currency notes.
Longer queues were seen outside public sector banks where a sizeable number of account holders are retired persons and senior citizens.
There was increased anxiety among some customers as the bank staff took longer time to process their cash request.
Some people with accounts in cooperative banks in Maharashtra complained that they took longer time to get their money exchanged from such banks because of the cash crunch.
Meanwhile, workers from political parties including BJP, Shiv Sena, MNS and Congress came out to help the people standing in queues outside banks and ATMs in Mumbai, by offering them drinking water and refreshments like tea.
Though there has been some relief through such help from political outfits, the process of verification of notes, updating of accounts and printing it on passbooks were taking time, increasing the woes of people.
In West Bengal, people were in for a shock on a Sunday morning as the sight of long queues in front of bank branches and ATMs across the state greeted them on the fifth day after Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes were demonetised.
With all bank branches open today as per the RBI directive to deal with the unprecedented situation, people formed serpentine queues in front of banks from as early as 6 AM to withdraw money.
Some people were lucky to have been able to withdraw money from a few operating ATMs, but given the huge demand for cash it proved to be just drops of water in a ocean.
There was also the unusual sight of large retail markets like Lake Market, Gariahat and Maniktala in the south and northern parts of the metropolis witnessing little footfall compared to the usual sight of heavy crowd on weekends.
A few shopkeepers in some markets are still accepting old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in view of the situation and to sell their fast perishable goods, but on condition that the transaction would be worth at least Rs 500 or in multiples.
But the most harassed of all remained those with medical emergencies as most medicine shops and many private hospitals refused to accept old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000.
While there were reports of chaos and commotion at some banks, some branches were thoughtful enough to offer seats to senior citizens and water to those waiting in queues.
Meanwhile, two sacks with torn and damaged currency notes of old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 stacked in them were recovered from a garbage vat in the southern part of the city’s Golf Green area this morning.
In North Dinajpur district in north Bengal, the police seized Rs 1.60 crore in Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes from a private car on NH-34 under Itahar police station area.
In Kerala’s Malappuram, a 65-year-old woman was arrested and fake currency notes with a total face value of Rs 37,000 were seized from her when she allegedly came to deposit the high denomination notes at an SBI branch.
The accused, Mariyamma, visited the branch at Kondotty yesterday to deposit Rs 49,500 of which bank officials found currency notes with a face value of Rs 37,000 to be fake. All the notes were of Rs 1000 denomination.
In Tamil Nadu, people continued to throng banks and ATMs to exchange or deposit scrapped Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for the fourth consecutive day, but many cash vending machines ran dry after a few hours.
People lined up before bank branches since morning and with several more ATMs dispensing Rs 100 notes, it came as a big relief to the harried public.
The RBI regional office here on Rajaji Salai attracted a continuing stream of people with the queue there extending to nearly a kilometre.
Some small traders and fish market vendors said they accepted old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes from some of their buyers as they had only such scrapped notes.
“Several of my customers had only scrapped Rs 500, Rs 1000 notes. They said they could not exchange it in view of heavy crowds. If I turn them away I will lose business,” a fish vendor, Devanesan Joel, said. (PTI)
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