With many ATMs still defunct and most running out of cash before you can say "demonetisation distress", confusion reigns supreme over where to find much-needed currency.
Anurag Kishore Anand, a private tutor, had to hop from one ATM to another to withdraw Rs 2,000 on Thursday.
He visited nearly 15 ATMS at Kankerbagh, Lohanipur, Bazaar Samiti and Exhibition Road between 11am and 2pm - all not working. The harried man finally found a functional State Bank of India ATM at Exhibition Road from where he could get money.
"I need to pay Rs 1,800 as house rent for which I need money urgently," Anurag said before leaving the ATM.
Mohammad Azmat (34), who too was in the SBI ATM queue on Exhibition Road, said he visited two ATMs - one of Bank of India outside JD Women's College on Bailey Road and the second of ICICI on Fraser Road - where the machines did not have cash.
"Most ATMs are not working while there are ATMs where money is being withdrawn in a couple of hours because most people are dependant on the few functional. There are many like me who are landing up at ATMs only to find them having no cash," said Azmat.
Residents said they were still facing problems in withdrawing money from ATMs as most of them were either closed or cashless by the time they reach them.
This correspondent found three ATMs on Fraser Road either cashless or closed around 3pm. The guard outside an IDBI ATM said the money ran out around an hour ago.
Sanjeev Kumar Hansda, the manager of Syndicate Bank on Fraser Road, whose ATM's shutter was found down, said his bank's ATM was defunct since demonetisation came into force. "Our ATM is yet to be recalibrated. We don't have enough notes of lesser denomination because of which we have kept the ATM closed. Yesterday (On Wednesday), we received new currency notes worth around Rs 40 lakh but the recalibration related work would take time. Until then, the ATM will remain closed," said Hansda.
The ATMs of Central Bank of India and ICCI on Fraser Road, too, were found closed.
At Exhibition Road, the situation was a little better - two out of five ATMs were found working. At Boring Road, of the seven ATMs (near Boring Road roundabout and Sahdeo Mahto Marg), three were found to be working. Of the remaining four, two had gone cashless around 5pm.
Anand Kumar (32), a resident of Anandpuri, claimed that he did not face any problem in withdrawing cash from an ICICI bank ATM at the Boring Road roundabout. "The problem is arising because many still don't have idea about the functional ATMs in and around their locality. There are areas where not a single ATM is working. But people can still find a working ATM in their neighbourhood if they take a bit of pain in finding out," said Anand.
Bank officials claimed that they were doing their best to overcome the crisis but admitted they were facing hurdles.
Randhir Kumar Sinha, assistant general manager (operations), State Bank of India, claimed that barring a few, most of the bank's ATMs were functional. He, however, accepted that once the ATMs run out of cash, it was difficult to deposit cash again.
"SBI deposits cash in its ATMs in two ways. While there are ATMs in which cash is deposited by SBI officials themselves, there are others in which the work is being executed by some agency. While the ATMS which are being managed by SBI officials, cash is deposited in them thrice, four times or even more. But ATMs, which are being managed by other agencies, cash is being deposited only once during the day because these agencies are looking after cash deposit related work of other banks' ATMs also," said Sinha, adding that the agency people are looking after cash deposit work of 50-60 ATMs.
