Large crowd was seen at most of the public and private sector banks across Tiruchi on Thursday as a large number of people hurried to exchange the old Rs.500 and Rs.1,000 currencies. Police were deployed in all the bank branches to regulate the crowd.
With large number of people queuing up early in the morning, tokens were issued in some bank branches such as the State Bank of India main branch near the Central Bus Stand in the city. Over 800 tokens were issued by noon at this branch. Police personnel were deployed to regulate the crowd and with tokens issued, the people were sent in batches to get the currencies exchanged. A serpentine queue was witnessed at the branch by noon forcing the police personnel to advise persons with token numbers of 500 and above to joint the queue after lunch.
Those in the queue said they had come to exchange the old notes for urgent requirement as they had run out of cash. “I had come to exchange the notes as we urgently need cash for day-to-day expenses. We have to pay for groceries and other requirements. I had taken permission from my office and I am waiting here for over an hour now,” said Malliga, a city resident waiting at a branch near the Central Bus Stand.
Nationalised banks in Thillai Nagar and Palakkarai areas struggled to manage the huge rush of people. In a few places, there was short supply of the KYC forms for exchanging the currencies. A majority had come to exchange the notes and only some opted to deposit cash in their accounts. Most of the banks in the district were yet to receive the new Rs.500 denomination currencies. Customers were issued the new Rs.2000 and other lower denomination notes.
Officials of most bank branches, however, said that they had made adequate arrangements. An official of State Bank of India, who did not want to be identified, said adequate number of counters have been opened to exchange the notes. A senior Indian Bank official said that adequate cash, including the new Rs.2000 and other lower denominations have been moved to all the 74 branches of the bank in the Tiruchi zone comprising Tiruchi, Perambalur, Ariyalur, Pudukottai and Karur districts. Branch officials were instructed to open more than one exclusive counter wherever necessary, he said.
