Note ban: Misery continues, so do queues

On the first day of the long three-day weekend holiday for banks, hundreds of people were present in long queues outside ATMs which were dispensing cash on Saturday, while most of the machines remained cash less.

There was no respite in sight for cash-strapped people on Saturday as queues outside ATMs for money withdrawal continued across the city with rising anger and pain.

Out of the 13 ATMs in Vikas Marg area of East Delhi, only one ATM of Vijaya Bank was found operating near Preet Vihar metro station. Mahesh Singh Dhillon, a resident of Gagan Vihar in East Delhi, said: “I am standing here in the line for almost one hour. And still I am not sure if I would be able to get some cash.” Expressing his anger, Dhillon said: “I have a family of six, and I am left with Rs 300, so if I don’t get cash today, then I would have to borrow some money from friends or relatives.” Lalita Kaur, 60, complained that there were no arrangements made for senior citizens at the ATM kiosks. 

“I am a senior citizen, but there is no preference given to us here.” 

Frustrated over the cash crunch, Kaur said: “I don’t know what (Prime Minister Narendra) Modiji thought before taking this decision.”

Meanwhile, bulk seizures of new currency rose on Saturday with four more incidents being reported including one in which the Income Tax (I-T) department recovered Rs 5.7 crore cash in new notes secretly stashed inside the bathroom tiles of a hawala dealer in Chitradurga district in Karnataka.

A fresh seizure of Rs 24 crore cash in new notes was also made by the I-T department, adding to the biggest haul of cash and gold post demonetisation, in which over Rs 142 crore unaccounted assets have been recovered in tax operations so far in Chennai.

In another incident, CBI recovered Rs 65 lakh of new currency in Rs 2,000 denomination from the Senior Superintendent of Post Offices, Hyderabad in connection with its probe in the note exchange racket. Another seizure of Rs 82 lakh, including Rs 71 lakh in new Rs 2,000 currency, was made at Kothur near Hyderabad. The cash was seized during vehicle checking at Kothur on Friday, the cops said. Two persons, allegedly involved in exchange of money on a commission basis, were also nabbed by the police.

In Patna, unidentified miscreants killed a security guard inside an ATM during an abortive bid to loot cash from Mauryalok shopping complex near Dakbungalow roundabout, in the heart of the state capital on late Friday night.