: He has a million rupees in his fixed-deposit account with the State Bank of India. And, Rs.3.5 lakh in his savings account, too. But on Thursday, 68-year-old Balakrishnan Nair (Baalettan, to everybody) stood in line for more than two hours at the SBI branch here—just to get Rs.4,000 exchanged.
“I have been keeping ten Rs.500-notes in a hidden layer of my wallet for over a year,” Balettan told The Hindu . “I am diabetic, and I kept this money to meet any medical emergency when I am out on the road.”
Like hundreds of other ordinary people, Balettan endured the long wait to get his demonetised notes exchanged for the new ones. “Just like my father used to wait in front of the government treasury for his monthly pension,” he said wryly.
Bank after bank, branch after branch, the scene repeated in Kozhikode city as people thronged to get their cash ration of Rs.4,000. Of course, the queues at SBI and SBT branches were longer than those at other nationalised and private banks.
Early warning
Since the media had alerted in advance that there would be big rush at the banks on Thursday, opening after day of RBI-ordered shutdown, people had started forming lines at the banks in the city from around 8 a.m. The banks made special arrangements for exchange of the notes. Special counters were set up, but they were inadequate to handle the rush. And very often, the banks ran out of cash and had to get reinforcements from their respective ‘cash chests.’
Of the dozen public-sector and private banks The Hindu correspondent visited in Kozhikode until around 3 a.m., four had run out of cash. The staff at the nationalised banks said it would take 30 to 60 minutes to get the money reloaded. However, two private banks said they were restricting money change to their customers as their cash reserve had thinned. At the nationalised banks, many people were appreciative of the patience and helpfulness of the staff—though angry for the rough handling by the police.
Reports from other towns and cities in the Malabar region said that huge crowds and long queues were the order of the day at the banks. At Kannur, Thalassery, Kasaragod and Vadakara, people had waited well beyond the deadline of 5.30 p.m. and at most places the bank staff worked on to pay out the last person waiting.
