ROURKELA: In a situation similar to demonetisation days, ATMs of public sector banks in Rourkela city and the rest of Sundargarh district are facing acute shortage of cash.
According to sources, there is no hope of immediate relief. All 65 ATMs of the SBI in Rourkela city on Saturday went out of cash, while the situation in ATMs of other PSU banks was no better either, sources said. They said Rourkela region of SBI had 65 ATMs in the city and 31 in rest of Panposh and Bonai sub-divisions in Sundargarh. The Rourkela region of SBI with four currency chests has been facing cash crunch for about a month. The situation has turned grim recently.
“Customers are forced to suffer due to inefficiency of RBI and shortsightedness of Finance Ministry. If similar situation continues for long, people will take to streets,” said a resident, Rajesh Chaturvedi.
A senior SBI official attributed the grim scenario to acute shortage of Rs 500 denomination with the banks. Notes of Rs 2,000 denomination were not in circulation due to stashing as black money, sources added.
“After demonetisaiton, ATMs were re-calibrated for Rs 100, Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denomination notes. But, only 20 per cent of existing ATMs of SBI have been configured for Rs 200 denomination,” Chaturvedi added.