The closure of banks, for the first time after demonetisation by the government, added to the woes of the public on Sunday. Customers were greeted by ‘not working’ boards at many of the ATMs, some ATMs downed their shutters, while others witnessed long queues.
Long queues were seen at the ATMs of SBI at Dwaraka Nagar and Rednam Gardens on Sunday. The HDFC Bank ATM at Dwarakanagar also witnessed long line of customers while the ICICI ATMs at Madhavadhara and Dwarakanagar downed shutters. People were seen trying to exchange their Old High Denomination (OHD) notes at fuel stations.
Small traders, fish vendors and the general public continued to face problems even after 12 days of the government’s decision on big notes.
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“Motorists have stopped coming for repairs unless they feel it absolutely important to go for immediate repairs. Some are bringing old Rs.500 notes for repairs costing Rs.100 or so and we cannot give them change,” said Tata Rao, a motorcycle mechanic, who has his shop beside Sankar Matham.
“We are telling customers that if they give Rs.2000 note, the bill should be at least Rs.1600 or more. Our cash transactions dropped by around 50 per cent. On the positive side, however, we have noticed a quantum jump in card transactions,” said an employee of a restaurant near Diamond Park.
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There is a drastic fall in fish sales at the Nehru Bazaar. “Customers are giving Rs.2000 note for making purchases of Rs.200. This is for the first time that we are experiencing such a problem,” said Pydamma, who has been selling fish for the past 30 years. “We used to make sales to the tune of Rs.15,000 a day before demonetisation. Now we hardly make around Rs.5,000. You can estimate how much we are losing every day,” said Kodanda, another fish vendor. The fish market near RTC Complex presented a different picture with many vendors accepting OHD notes.
It was a similar story at Fishing Harbour. The normally busy vendors were seen awaiting customers.