THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Demonetising became a pain for senior citizens who were not given separate counters or adequate seating in most banks when they came to exchange their old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 banknotes on Thursday. While disabled people got consideration, seniors were too many in number to be shown that courtesy, others in the queue said. P.V. Rajan, an elderly paraplegic lottery seller, had to climb stairs to Union Bank, Statue branch, twice to get more notes of smaller denomination. “People give us Rs 500 notes to buy tickets of Rs 30 or Rs 60. So I had to go there for Rs 20-note bundles twice a day. Lottery sales have also dropped by around 50 percent as the lucky draws have been postponed due to demonetization,” Mr Rajan said.
However, he is proud to bear with the trouble as he believes it would bring positive changes. Elsewhere, at State Bank of India, Cotton Hill branch, Sasi Kumar, 60, a diabetic patient, was disappointed as he had to wait for around an hour in the queue. “I take insulin shots, and I am already hungry. We, elderly people, do not use online banking and swipe cards. So when they shut the ATMs, they need to give top priority to seniors,” he complained. Many were not aware that ID proof was mandatory for the exchange of currency notes leading to confusion. Lalitha Venkatesh, another senior citizen, walked out of the queue at Andhra Bank, Poojapura branch, complaining about non-availability of banknotes.
