By Times Headline Writer
Varanasi: The people of the PM’s Parliamentary constituency, particularly youngsters, were a harried lot on Saturday and Sunday as most of the ATMs were either shut or out of cash. They were seen running from one ATM to the other to get the elusive cash.
It has been 20 days since the high value currency notes were demonetized yet queues outside the ATMs continue to remain long. As a result, many ATMs have either stopped dispensing money or shutters have been pulled down with banks being the only destination. The rush of people at banks for cash has only doubled as those disappointed by ATMs continued to throng banks until Friday.
The bank officials thanked their stars for a two-day off, the weekend had been marred for the people who had plans to catch up with friends at malls and restaurants or new releases at theatres. Social media were the common platform to vent their ire over not being able to dispense cash from ATM or from banks.
“It is sickening. I could not get money from ATM near my house and now the swipe machine at a famous fast food restaurant chain in not working,” 23-year-old Ananya was heard complaining to her friends.
Another student Akash, who was waiting with friends at ticket counter of a mall said, “The new notes of Rs 500 is still not available and it is such a mess. Me and my friends decided to watch Dear Zindagi today but change of Rs 2,000 is not available at the counter. We have invited four more friends so he does not have to return anything and we would manage once the cash crunch ends,” lamented his friends.
The youngsters at ghats also seemed dejected with little or no cash in pockets and were seen updating Facebook status and other social media platforms or posting tweets over demonetization.
“I only had the new note of Rs 2,000 in my wallet and felt the surge to enjoy a cup of tea at Assi ghat. I had to make unnecessary purchases from a big store just to have tea,” medical student Pankaj Verma said.
“This is not good at all. The ATMs are only being re-calibrated with new notes of Rs 2000 and people have no idea how to get the change,” lamented Kumar, who was in queue outside SBI ATM in Sigra on Sunday.
(With inputs from news agencies)
