Where is my money?

There was a definite display of marked anger among people standing in serpentine queues outside ATMs in different parts of the city. Despite banks’ assurances that their ATMs will be operational by Friday, majority of ATMs either ran out of cash or were out of service, following the cash crunch brought about in the wake of the government’s demonetisation of ₹500 and ₹1,000 notes. 

Bank officials had a tough time dealing with irate customers who needed more cash than the Rs 2,000 limit placed by government. On Saturday morning, fight broke out at a private bank branch in city when a customer wanted to close his account and demanded his entire savings in new currency. When the bank manager told him that it was not possible, the angry customer got into an altercation with him and had to be removed from the branch. In other branches, similar scenes of anger were witnessed. Customers were seen pounding and banging on a defunct ATM machine in Egmore, unmindful of being caught on the CCTV camera. “Let the officials see how we are feeling,” they were heard shouting. 

Earlier this week, the Reserve Bank of India had said people could withdraw up to a maximum of Rs 2,000 per card per day up until 18 November, and then to Rs 4,000 a day after November 19. However, senior bank official admitted that the problem would continue for another 10 days, and advised that people plan their expenses accordingly. “The staff is overworked, and there are  still some technical difficulties which need to get resolved,” he said. “Engineers need to physically visit the two lakh ATMs in the country to reconfigure them for the new notes, which is bound to take a lot more time,” said Rituraj Sinha, president of the Cash Logistics Association of India had said in a statement. 

M G Devasahayam, former IAS officer and economist was extremely critical of the move. “The damage has been done. There is massive bungling by government and RBI. The situation is moving towards chaos and riots. The only immediate way to get out of this ugly situation is to reinstate Rs 500 note as legal tender. Other issues things can be dealt with later,” he said.

Adding to the chaos, several fake Rs 2,000 notes are already in circulation, defeating the whole purpose of demonetisation of high-value currencies. As most people are not aware of the look and feel of the new Rs 2000 notes, colour photocopies of the currency have already hit the market. So-called agents are making the most of the situation by hoarding the few Rs 100 and Rs 50 notes that are in circulation and exchanging them for a cut.