Shobha is in her late early 40s. For the past few days she has been regularly coming to the bank at the break of dawn to stand in the queue to withdraw money to meet expenses of the marriage of her daughter Roja.
She has been shelling out Rs 10 as auto charge every day for a 10-minute travel from Gate Tanda of Ahammadanagar that is adjacent to the highway.
Bank officials were issuing tokens for the amount to be paid the next day.
So far she has been able to withdraw less than Rs. 8,000 while she has close to Rs. 50,000 balance in the bank. “We have been forced to put off Roja’s marriage twice. The next auspicious date is December 25. We do not know whether we will be in a position to perform the marriage even on that date. Despite having sufficient money we are unable to withdraw it for our requirements. It is not possible to make all transactions cashless,” said Shobha, who fears she may have to postpone the marriage once again.
Bankers unmoved
In the case of Vithal Naik, his sister Saritha was scheduled to get married on Friday. For the past three days he was running from pillar to post to get the cash to perform the marriage. He even approached the bank manager with the wedding card requesting for money but failed to get anything. “If we do not get the cash we have to perform the marriage in a simple manner and request suppliers to wait for payment,” Viathal Naik told The Hindu while waiting before the branch of State Bank of India (SBI) on the main road of this mandal headquarters on Thursday At least two customers claimed that some marriages were postponed due to demonetisation.
For those who really need money to meet any urgent requirement it is literally hell. Unable to bear the heat of the sun, they were leaving footwear in the queue and coming to stand only when the weather was bearable. The bank gates were not opened till 1 p.m. on Thursday though people were waiting since morning. Some times two to three members of a family were taking turns to hold their place in the queue, though the amount being paid by the bank was only Rs. 4,000.
