Thiruvananthapuram: Queues shorten as more notes reach branches

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The length of queues in banks to exchange currency notes have reduced six days after Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were demonetised on Tuesday last. The queues were reduced to a largely pre-office hour phenomenon in the city on Monday. More ATMs have started to function around workplaces and commercial centres. "Around 1 p.m., there were hardly three or four people in the queue in our bank branch at Vazhuthacaud. In the morning, there was a queue though it was nothing like in the previous few days. Most people might have already exchanged the old notes and might be taking cash from ATMs," said the cashier of a nationalised bank.

"We run the show with Rs 2,000 and Rs 20 notes and Rs 10 coins," he added. While the ATM withdrawal limits were raised to Rs 4,500, most ATMs were dispensing only Rs 1,500 at a time. Before demonetisation, companies used to load the ATMs with cash at night. However, now loading takes place only till evening and the cash will not be available in most ATMs late in the night. More ATMs are loaded at the start of working hours to reduce the queues in banks, a source said.

"I work in a public office near Museum and took Rs 1,500 from the SBT ATM there. All my colleagues did the same. So no issues for three-four days, I believe," said Sasidharan Pillai.  Those entrusted with withdrawing money by family members said finding cash-loaded ATMs with no queue was a gamble. "If you see too many receipts on the ground, the ATMs are most likely not working. ATMs having a queue of five to 10 people will have money," said G. Ashwin Das of Poojapura. No parking fee at airport: The Airport Authority of India (AAI) has decided not to collect parking fee until November 21 midnight.

ATM spews soiled notes now

Even on a day when Rs 100 was the most sought-after currency, no one wanted the torn and soiled Rs 100 notes R. Sreeja was carrying. She had received those from an ATM at Pappanamcode on Monday morning. She had to try every trick up her sleeve, before shopkeepers in Chalai would be convinced to take those sorry notes. “I would show them all the notes, and ask them to choose which Rs 100 they wanted,” she says. This way, she managed to spend Rs 700 of the worst ten Rs 100 notes. “I had withdrawn Rs  2,000. The second set of Rs 2,000 were not torn, but old, still,” she says.

Ms Sreeja says hers was not a lone case. Everyone coming out of the ATM was warning other customers about torn notes. Her friend Sharmila Sayed says, “We stood for at least half an hour and had to go back with those notes. The notes I got were still better than what others before me had got.” The respective branch manager told DC that they had a shortage of '100 notes, and it was a last-ditch effort to avoid problems. “I am sorry about what happened. I have instructed the subordinates not to repeat it,” he said.