VIJAYAWADA: In what could bring a respite to the public here from waiting for long hours in queues at banks and ATMs, a sum of Rs 2,420 crore arrived in two special aircraft chartered by the Andhra Pradesh government on Friday. The cash was brought to the state in two special aircraft to Visakhapatnam and Tirupati. From there, the cash was sent by road to all 13 districts of the state.
Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu, who convened a video conference with the chief ministers’ committee constituted to monitor the currency shortage problem in the country post-demonetisation on Thursday evening, also spoke to the RBI governor Urjit Patel and explained the situation in the state. He expressed serious displeasure over the persisting cash scarcity even after these many days and asked him to immediately send Rs 2,500 crore to the state.
Responding positively to the same, the RBI sent Rs 2,420 crore by Friday morning.
The currency was distributed to all the districts on priority basis. While, some of the districts got Rs 160 crore, some districts, where the demand for cash is high got Rs 240 crore.
The Chief Minister directed the bankers to display the cash availability boards in banks and also wanted them to work overtime to avoid inconvenience to public. Usually, the RBI takes the responsibility of transporting cash from its regional offices to the cash chests under its ambit. But, this time, due to the prevailing conditions, the state government itself took the initiative for bringing the cash to the state at the earliest and arranged two special flights for taking the money from Hyderabad to Visakhapatnam and Tirupati and from there to the districts.