Bhubaneswar, Nov. 20: Queues outside ATMs got longer today with the banks staying closed for the first time in the state since Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the demonetisation exercise on November 8.

The Indian Banks Association yesterday had allowed only senior citizens to exchange old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations for new ones at the banks. Besides, the banks allowed only their own customers to exchange notes.

With no exchange facility, people queued up in front of ATMs hoping to get lucky. However, most kiosks had downed their shutters by noon, while the others ran dry in less than an hour.

"The government should have allowed everyone to exchange cash yesterday, since today banks are closed. This could have eased the queues outside ATMs," said Naveen Mohanty, 36, businessman and resident of Palasuni.

Mohanty said he was hoping to exchange notes from the nearest bank branch only to be refused by the officials who said only senior citizens were allowed to do so. "I had to return empty-handed. I have not yet exchanged cash and have withdrawn Rs 20,000," he said.

Mohanty said he tried to withdraw cash from an ATM only to find that it had run out of cash. "I waited for almost half an hour, but the machine ran dry," he said.

Suresh Kumar, 28, marketing professional and resident of Nayapalli, visited the nearest ICICI Bank branch to exchange notes, but was refused by the officials as the branch was only allowing their own customers to avail of the facility.

"I have a bank account at State Bank of India, Vani Vihar, but could not exchange notes there as it would take me two hours and I could not have afforded to waste so much time," he said. Kumar said with the banks closed today, the queues are bound to get longer on Monday leading to more inconvenience for people.

The senior citizens, however, welcomed the move. R.C. Mohanty, 70, retired doctor and resident of VSS Nagar, said: "I got my notes exchanged in only half an hour yesterday from the nearest branch."