Fuel station doubles up as bank, dispenses cash to over 1000 a day

On December 14, the fuel station had a queue that was longer than the queues outside ATMs. “We are sure that we will get money here even if we have to wait for a long time,” said one of the persons waiting there. More than 8,500 vehicles fill up fuel here in a day. The bunk runs two counters exclusively to dispense cash to the public, irrespective of the bank where they have an account. 

At one of the counters people get Rs 2,000 currencies (one note is given to a person). The other is for dispensing notes in lesser denominations but has a cap of Rs. 1,500 a person. Debit card users swipe their cards in the counter and transfer the said amount to the bank account of the fuel station, after which money is handed over to them. The trust is able to dispense money from dawn to late at night as it gets money through those filling fuel and money circulated in their canteen, where they serve food at a subsidised rate. 

Therefore, it helps to circulate cash in the fuel station. Post demonetisation, only a handful of fuel stations in Coimbatore were identified for disbursing money to debit card users as there was a mad rush in banks and ATMs. But most of these fuel stations stopped doing it in less than a week citing difficulty and unavailability of cash. Service rendered by the fuel station at Singanallur has been lauded by thousands who are facing difficulty in withdrawing money over the last five weeks.

Mad rush and queues are a common sight outside banks and ATMs even five weeks after demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currencies. The hunt for money grows worse during weekends and holidays as banks remain closed and ATMs run out of cash.

December 13 was a holiday for Milad-un-Nabi. The working class which could not take a break on working days thronged the ATMs in the city. Customers waiting in long queues had no other option but to withdraw the new Rs. 2,000 currencies. “I am waiting in the queue for more than an hour to withdraw money,” says R. Prabavathi (58) who had more than 20 persons ahead of her waiting to withdraw money in an ATM on the Tiruchy Road. While people occupied the footpaths, their vehicles occupied a good share of the road. M. Varadhan (36) and his friends riding a bunch of bikes treated their hunt for an ATM with money as an expedition within the city. “We have covered 21 ATMs so far from morning. We are hopeful of getting money in the next ATM,” he said.