The Prime Minister is appealing to everyone to adopt cashless methods to make small or big deals. And it seems the ATMs across the nation have been taking the lead ever since the demonetisation drive began. They are absolutely what PM wants the economy to be — cashless. Express takes a look at the situation at some major cities
Visakhapatnam, Andhra Pradesh
ATMs are replenished once a day in Vizag a little after noon. We checked out ATMs in Akkayyapalem, Dondaparthy, Shankar Math, Fourth Town, Seethampeta, Asilmetta Junction, Siripuram, Maddilapalem, Gurudwara Junction on Thursday. We found most of them had run out of cash within a few hours Express found Thursday. According to SBI manager D Sharath Babu, of the total 1,104 ATMs, 104 are yet to be calibrated. Yet, a majority of the customers are going back empty-handed.
Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh
We checked out ATMs in Governorpet, Arundelpet, Sitharampuram, Suryaraopet, Chuttugunta, Machavaram, Gunadala, Israelpet, Labbipet, One Town, Panja Centre on Thursday. The story is the same as in Vizag: ATMs run out of cash within a couple of hours after they are replenished. To the fortunate few who do make it to a loaded ATM, they continue to dispense D2000 notes. We found that banks are loading only D2 lakh in each ATM,that too in D2000 notes. To make it more difficult for citizens, micro ATMs have been removed from Rythu Bazaars where most people buy their vegetables.
Bengaluru, Karnataka
The ATM locations we recced were at HSR Layout, Koramangala, Cunningham Road, Sanjaynagar, Mysore Road, Chandra Layout, Vijaynagar, Rajajinagar, Okalipuram, Sahakara Nagar Main Road, Majestic, High Court, Ambedkar Veedhi Road, Basaveshwaranagar, SG Playa, Rajarajeshwarinagar. Ninety per cent of the ATMs were still not dispensing cash. We found that the main denomination available continues to be the D2000 note. Twelve ATMs we checked out gave out D100 and one disgorged the new D500 notes.
Mysuru, Karnataka
Express checked out 25 ATMs located on seven busy roads within the central business district of Mysuru. Sixty per cent of them had no cash. We found cash in only 11 ATMs. Among these, six were giving out only D2,000 notes. The Devaraj Urs Road, the main commercial street, has five ATMs: SBI, Kotak Mahindra, Karnataka Bank, State Bank of Patiala and Indus Bank. Cash was available only at Indus Bank. Vinobha Road, has four ATMs and except State Bank all were dry. And working ATMs have only D2000 notes.
Raipur, Chhattisgarh
We checked out ATMs in the residential areas of Telibandha, Civil Lines, Katora Talab and Pandri in the evening of Thursday. No less than 11 of the 24 ATMs either had no cash or were not in service.
Functioning: 13
Out of cash: 11
Nagpur, Maharashrtra
The Civil Lines area of Nagpur houses most of the state and central government offices in the city including the High Court and the RBI. The Assembly complex, ministers’ bungalows, guest houses of MLAs are located in this area. The Civil Lines area has 20 ATMs. We checked out these ATMs between 6 pm and 7 pm on Thursday. As many as 13 of the 20 ATMs attached to banks were close at 6 pm. Among the rest, only two were operational. The others either did not have cash or allowed only their own customers.
Kochi, Kerala
We recced 92 ATMs the busy hubs of Kochi: Edappally, Kacheripady, Kadavanthra, Kakkanad, Kaloor, Marine Drive, Menaka, MG Road, Padma Jn, Palarivattom, Panampilly Nagar, Pullepady and Vyttila. We found only 46 functional, though barely. The other 46 had no sign of life. And of the 46 functional ATMs, things were far from normal compared to the pre-Nov. 8 days. Only five had Rs 100 notes and another five D500 notes. The remaining 36 ATMs had only D2000 notes.
T’Puram, Kerala
The ATM picture was brighter in Thiruvananthapuram. A majority of the ATMs were functional but they were short of 100 notes. Only 23 ATMs had D100 notes available. Seven of the ATMs were either shut down or sported out-of-service tag.
Functioning: 52
Out of cash: 19
Chennai, Tamil Nadu
New Indian Express checked out ATMs at Chelliamman Nagar, Athipet, ICF colony, MGR Puram, EVK Sampath Road, Vepery, Ekkaduthangal, Teynampet on Thursday evening and found that 90 per cent of them were either out of order or had no cash to yield. Not much change since day 1 of demonetisation. One out-of-towner said, “I’ve been fooled by brightly lit ATMs on my way home that have no queues. I stop and step in only to find the machines gleefully declaring that there’s no cash to be had for love or for money.”
Hyderabad, Telangana
The Express recce of ATMs was carried out over a 3 km area from 4 pm to 6 pm on Thursday. We covered BS Maqtha, Somajiguda, Raj Bhavan Road, Khairatabad, Lakdikapul, Chintal Basti, Anand Nagar Colony, Banjra Hills Road No. 1, Begumpet, Necklace Road. Thirty days since demonetisation, the Great ATM Quest continues for Hyderabadis. Most of the ATMs sport no cash’, ‘out of service’ signs. Or there’s a security guard shooing people away with a ‘cash nahin hai bhai!’
Bhubaneswar, Odisha
We checked out ATMs at Jharpada, Laxmi Sagar, Satya Nagar, Kharavela Nagar, Station Square, Ashok Nagar, Bapuji Nagar, Forest Park, Unit II, Unit III, Unit IV in Bhubaneswar
Functioning: 21
Out of cash: 4
Chandigarh, Punjab/Haryana
Thirty days after demonetisation was let loose on the country, 90 per cent of the ATMs in Chandigarh continue to be out of cash. Tempers are beginning to flare up as citizens with payments to make are fed up of the queues in banks and no-cash signs hung at ATMs. Banks are continuing to ration cash to customers and the ATMs are not being replenished as much as needed. News came in from Faridkot on Wednesday that irate farmers locked down the staff of a cooperative bank inside the bank.