Kochi: No respite for small traders, wage-earners even on day 5

Kochi: The small traders and daily wage earners struggled on Sunday, the fifth day in succession, to collect smaller denomination currency notes from banks in Kochi. The situation continued to be grim in rural and semi-urban areas in the district while some respite was witnessed in the main city areas towards the late evening. “It took me nearly one hour to collect Rs 10,000 from a bank in South Chittoor”, said a customer whom declined to reveal his identity. The only redeeming feature was the patience shown by the bank staff, he added.

A woman from Tamil Nadu, working in Kochi as a daily wage earner, told reporters that she has succeeded to collect Rs 2,000 on Sunday after trying for the same in the past four days. “I was walking from Mattummal near Thevara to Marine Drive for the past four days and finally I managed to have some cash in my hands”, she said. “I was roaming around the city from morning in search of an ATM centre without heavy rush as I can’t stand for long. In MG Road and Banerjee Road, there were more than 50 persons in front all counters. Finally, I could collect money from an ATM counter at Kaloor by noon,” said K. Arun, a daily wage earner.

The plight of the auto rickshaw and taxi drivers continued to remain grim due to lesser number of people opting for their services. The sales in BEVCO outlets also remained muted due to the shortage of currency.   The new generation private banks in the city witnessed lesser crowd as most of them are having minimum deposit norms compared with public sector banks. “People having accounts in such private banks are able to collect money comparatively easy”, said a person.