The festival season provided a much-needed break to many employees in the city. However, with banks and financial institutions closing down for four days in a row, many people have been facing problems withdrawing money from ATMs in many places.
Banks in the state have been closed since November 1 for Rajyotsava followed by Naraka Chaturdasi on Saturday, and Sunday. Monday will be the fourth consecutive day they are closed, on account of Balipadyami. Due to the festival rush, many people trying to withdraw money from ATMs have had to return empty-handed.
Customers had difficulty withdrawing money in many other areas, including Whitefield, Banashankari, Old Airport Road, Residency Road, Ulsoor, Domlur, Murugeshpalya, etc.
“I tried three ATMs on 100 Feet Road in Indiranagar, but they did not dispense cash. I finally had to find an isolated HDFC Bank ATM near Indiranagar Double Road and withdrew money. Even there, I was only able to withdraw Rs 10,000,” said Joslin, a resident of Indiranagar.
The story was the same in many places across the city where ATMs ran out of cash after three days.
For Pavan Kumar, it was a harrowing search for a functioning ATM hours before he was due to have guests over at his place. “I have been to all the ATMs in Basavangudi. I finally managed to get cash from a Canara Bank ATM in Banashankari. I planned on buying crackers on Sunday and I was afraid I wouldn’t be able to if I didn’t get cash,” he said.
Even in those ATMs that were functioning, only notes of some denominations were available. On Infantry Road, a security guard at a Canara Bank ATM said that only Rs 100 notes were available.
“The ATM was loaded on Saturday, now it will be reloaded only on Tuesday. As of now, only Rs 500 notes are available,” said a guard at an SBM ATM in Domlur.
While security guards at ATMs confirmed that cash had been filled on Saturday, machines were still overwhelmed by many withdrawals. “The security agency did load cash on Saturday, but now, only Rs 100 notes are available,” said a guard at an SBM ATM in Domlur.
Another guard at an SBI ATM on MG Road said that only Rs 1,000 notes were available. “They will fill cash again only on Tuesday,” he said.
The situation was the same in some other districts too.
In Belgaum, many ATMs ran out of cash and long queues were seen wherever cash was available. People were forced to run around the city making visits from one ATM to the another with most machines not being able to dispense cash.
Despite this, huge crowds continued to throng the markets in the city for festival shopping.
In Hubli too, ATMs which had run out of cash in the morning, proved a dampener. Residents complained that some ATMs of public sector banks had run out of cash earlier in the day, but by evening, most of them were operational again as cash was reloaded. However, ATMs of private banks continued to function normally. However, in Mysore, residents did not face problems as almost all ATMs functioned normally.
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