Cashless ATMs, long queues give Noida residents a hard time

Even after a month of banning high-value currency notes, queues outside banks and ATMs refuse to end. With banks closed for three consecutive days from Saturday, the supply of money to the ATMs in Noida was hit badly. Noida Sector 18 market has many ATMs but people had a tough time finding a functioning ATM on Monday and when they found one, the queues outside such ATMs were never ending.

At around 5pm, ICICI and HDFC ATMs were found dispensing cash in Sector 18. These ATMs were dispensing only Rs 2000 currency notes. A source said that larger banks are getting more cash than the smaller banks. So, if the large banks run their ATMs and keep deploying cash in them, even customers of smaller banks will get serviced.

“I know I have a long wait in front of me but I need the money as I use only cash. We are facing problems but we don’t have a choice,” said Tushar Kamal Narang who skipped work to stand in the queue.

“After losing hopes from over 10 cash dispensing machines in Sector 18 market, I got cash from ICICI Bank ATM for which I had to wait for more than 3 hours. I needed lower denomination of currency notes but I have to somehow manage with Rs 2000 note as this is the only available option. 

Now another challenge in front of me is how to get the change of this high-value currency note. People are having little cash, they should not have had a bank holiday today (Monday),” said Ravi Kumar, who somehow managed to withdraw money.