Patna: The city continues to reel from the cash crunch, with most people running from ATM to ATM to withdraw money, but bankers insist there is no cause for alarm and the crisis is being fuelled by "rumours".

When confronted with examples of how most people are facing a severe shortage of cash, the bankers - who only speak under cover of anonymity - admit that the supply of currency is dwindling and withdrawals skyrocketing.

"The most-affected are students who live in Patna to prepare for competitive examinations," said Rajkumar from Nalanda district, in Patna preparing for competitive examinations, who was looking for a working ATM at Patna Junction at around 1.30 pm on Tuesday. "Almost all of us depend on cash for paying for food, books and study materials. We are forced to shamelessly demand cash from our near and dear ones," he added.

Ruchi Kumari from Ramkrishna Nagar went to a Bank of India ATM in the locality at 1pm on Tuesday. At 2pm she was hunting for an ATM with cash on Fraser Road.

"The government should take urgent measures. It has become very difficult to buy anything, even a lipstick. We purchase our groceries in the middle of every month; the cash crunch severely hampered has our daily routine," she said.

Anisabad resident Md. Asif was scouting for an ATM on the Ashok Rajpath area near the Patna College campus at 2.30pm on Tuesday. "Most of the ATMs have been either out of service or are not dispensing cash. We are running short of cash to meet our requirements as local shopkeepers have yet to go cashless. The bitter memories of demonetisation have returned to haunt," he rued.

An official at the currency chest in Patna, however, denied there was any cash crunch. The official, who spoke under cover of anonymity, dismissed the people's woes as "rumours" and said the currency supply from the Reserve Bank of India has been "just like it was".

The official, however, admitted that due to fears of cash shortage bank customers are delaying depositing cash in banks and are withdrawing cash in bulk for the entire month.

It's not as if there is no cash at all. An SBI ATM near Gandhi Maidan had only Rs 100 notes at around 3 pm on Tuesday.

Many residents from areas such as Anisabad, Raja Bazaar, Phulwari, Sachiwalaya, Rajendra Nagar, Kankerbagh said the cash crunch has been on for almost a week. Many ATMs are displaying the dreaded "no cash" sign.

A senior SBI official said: "We are totally dependant on the supply from the RBI; these days, the supply has been short of requirements. Even if an ATM is replenished, it runs out of cash within two or three hours."

The SBI has 400 ATMs in Patna.

Contacted, RBI regional director Nelan Prakash Topno's personal assistant said Topno was busy.

An RBI official, who spoke under cover of anonymity, said: "As of now there is no currency shortage in the currency chest. The situation will ease out very soon."

The RBI official, however, accepted that remittances have declined while cash withdrawals have shot up. "Hoarding of notes has also added to the problem," he said.

The people on the streets, however, had a common reaction: "It seems like the note ban has returned to haunt us."