CHANDIGARH: Many customers were seen returning empty-handed from the banks and ATMs on Thursday as there was no cash in banks and 90 per cent ATMs in Punjab have a notice outside ‘No-Cash’. The bank branches are getting cash but not enough to meet their requirements and the banks are now rationing cash to the customers.
“We did not get cash in the morning but got a few lakh rupees in the afternoon. So the customers were given token in the morning. But we are giving maximum of Rs 10,000 to a customer,” said a private bank official in Sector 34. A manager of private bank in Mohali said, “We got only Rs 15 lakh in cash today (Thursday ) and that also in Rs 2000 notes. I told the staff not to give more than Rs 10,000 per customer thus we will be able to accommodate at least 150 customers.’’
The situation is no different in the nationalised banks in the state. The customers at a nationalised bank in Sector 17 said they are not getting enough cash. “We have not enough cash, so we are not giving more than Rs 6,000 for a customer,’’ said the branch manager. On being asked to a bank official in Sector 17 whether the bank will allow its customers to withdraw Rs 24,000 from their accounts, he said, “We got limited cash, so instead of Rs 24,000, we are only giving Rs 10,000 so as to cater to more customers.”
People say that they have to make payments to domestic helps, grocery shops, milk and newspaper vendors and car cleaners but they have no money to make payments as these people are demanding money only in cash. Seema Sharma, a home-maker, said, “I had to pay tuition and school fees of my two children, electricity and water bills, buy groceries, milk and vegetables and pay my maid. The bank gave me just Rs 10,000 which is not enough. The maid, vegetable and newspaper vendors say give them in cash, so what to do,’’ she says.
While in Faridkot, irate farmers locked down the staff of a Cooperative Bank inside the building on Wednesday. The police rushed to the bank and got the staff released. The farmers alleged that for the last ten days, they have been standing four to five hours daily to get cash from their accounts but did not get a single penny.