Huge rush at banks - ATMs yet to reopen

Hyderabad, Nov 11 : There was no respite for the common man on Friday too as ATMs were yet to re-open while huge rush continued at banks across Telangana and Andhra Pradesh to withdraw or deposit cash.

People expecting some relief with the scheduled re-opening of ATMs were in for a huge disappointment as almost all ATMs remained closed.

Some ATMs opened in a few places in Hyderabad but ran out of cash within no time.Officials of various banks said it would take a couple of more days for the ATMs to resume functioning.

They attributed the delay to the technical changes that have to be made for dispensing new notes. The banks are also yet to receive new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 currency notes to be loaded in the ATMs.

The agencies which operate the ATMs said demonetized notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 were yet to be removed from 40 percent of the ATMs.

There was utter chaos at all the branches of the banks, especially public sector banks, for a second consecutive day on Friday. Serpentine queues were seen everywhere.

People lined up since morning to either exchange the demonetized notes with new ones or deposit them. With people parking their vehicles around the banks, it led to traffic problems at some places.Bank authorities and police had a tough time controlling the crowd.

"I am waiting for two hours to exchange the notes," said Sudhakar Rao, a customer at State Bank of India branch at Sheikhpet.

The situation was no different at other public sector and even private banks. With no change in hands to buy the essentials, people thronged the banks even before they opened for transactions.

"I have no notes of 100, 50 or lesser denominations. I couldn't buy milk, vegetable and other essentials today," complained Syed Ishtiaq Ahmed, a senior citizen who had to return without exchanging the notes due to huge crowd at Syndicate Bank in Toli Chowki.

Business was affected due to demonetization. With severe crunch of change, small traders shut down their businesses.

There was thin traffic in usually busy areas, reflecting the impact of demonetization on business and trade.