THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The chaos at banks continued even two days after demonetisation as people thronged various branches on Friday. Limited ATM machines that functioned kept running out of currencies until afternoon. While the majority of citizens who interacted with Deccan Chronicle said they were ready to bear with discomfort due to the noble intentions behind demonetisation, those with emergency requirements were not happy. Kiran Kannan of Thirumala said his grandmother passed away 16 days ago.
To conduct a post-funeral function, he went to withdraw money on Thursday but could withdraw only Rs 3,000. On Friday, he returned with his cousin Kishore Vishwam to SBT Poojapura branch to withdraw Rs 4,000. “People like us who need a lot of money to manage funerals or marriages are in trouble,” the youngster said. Dilip Justin, an employee at technopark was relieved because ATMs at IT park were filled up frequently. “Each ATM had at least 15-20 people waiting to withdraw. Still, it was better than banks in the city where my friends withdrew money after waiting for around one hour,” he said.
Massive queues were seen at SBI branches at Athara, Thirumala and branches of Canara bank, Federal bank and Union Bank. People had to stand in queue for over an hour but the length of queues gradually reduced as office shutters opened. Staffers of agencies that fill up the ATMs of banks said that the priority of banks was to ensure money at branches until 6pm.
“We filled up a few ATMs in the mornings and depending on the money left, we filled them up after 4pm. Obviously money gets over fast because too many currencies of smaller denomination are being withdrawn by people,” a staffer said. SBT fielded their mobile ATMs in various parts of the city throughout the day. Interestingly, many salaried employees said demonetisation helped them to save money for the rest of the month. “I have been sailing through with just '100 for the past three days. If I can withdraw less, I hope I will have some money left,” said security man Krishnan Kutty.
