Senior citizens in the Capital found much relief on Saturday as exchanging banned currency notes at banks was exclusively reserved for them for the day.
The move, however, also left some in the general public miffed as those ignorant of the rule had to return home after standing in queues.
Most people unaware
It was not that the banks had only senior citizens as visitors on Saturday. Since only exchange was exclusively reserved for the elders and withdrawal of cash was still allowed for everyone, there was not too much difference in the lengths of the queues.
Most banks, though, had separate queues for senior citizens. “Since much focus right from the start was on the problems faced by senior citizens in queues, I knew the government would be forced to come up with such a rule sooner or later. So, I decided to wait until today,” said 68-year-old Narendra Singh, who had to wait barely 30 minutes in a queue outside Bank of Baroda on West Delhi’s Jail Road before he was able to exchange his notes.
Reema Kaul, a 72-year-old woman, however, said the government should have marked an hour everyday for senior citizens instead o dedicating one day to them. “My relative is getting married today. I would have liked to be with family instead of standing in a queue. Since only today was reserved for us, I did not want to let go of the opportunity,” she said, adding she was able to get her notes exchanged within 45 minutes.
Bankers’ intervention
At a few banks, it needed bankers’ intervention before a separate queue was formed for senior citizens. At an HDFC Bank branch in Janakpuri, a few chairs had been arranged for the elderly, but there was no queue.
While the elderly were able to get done with their exchange quickly, many among the others were found ignorant of the rule for Saturday.
Gautam, an auto driver, stood in a queue for two hours and even reached the insides of an ICICI Bank in Delhi Cantonment area before officials told him his notes could not be exchanged.
Trying their luck
“I had borrowed money from friends and had waited for crowds to thin down before joining a queue. The government should have done more to ensure these new rules reach people like us,” said Gautam.
While he was ignorant, there were also a few younger customers who tried their luck by standing in queues for exchange. They, however, had to return empty-handed.
