Dry run for banks, ATMs triggers cash crisis

SHONAAM  TABRI DADA

ITANAGAR, Apr 17: Along with various other parts of the country, the post-demonetization scenario has revisited the Capital Complex and adjoining areas with ATMs, primarily those of SBI, going ‘cashless’ to compound the misery of the people.

ATMs in Itanagar, Naharlagun, NERIST and Doimukh have rarely dispensed cash for a month despite claims by officials that there is no cash crunch in the State and elsewhere in the country.

People waiting at ATM for cash to be deposited by the bank officials .

Amid speculations that political parties running the governments are stashing money with the 2019 LokSabha polls in mind, bank officials have blamed the crisis on non-availability of cash with the Reserve Bank of India.

“RBI has not yet released the volume of cash needed, and as a result subordinate banks are finding it hard to refill the ATMs at Ganga, Doimukh, Naharlagun and Nirjuli,” Tarun Kumar Boro, SBI’s Chief Manager (Compliance and Risk Management), told The Arunachal Pioneer.

“RBI is expected to send money, around 100 crore for the Capital Complex within a week,” he said.

Boro said a few ATMs have been able to dispense cash despite the crisis because Rs 15-crore had been reinvested by the Basar bank to the Naharlagun branch.

The RBI had on March 18 disbursed money that was sent to Ziro, Paighat, Yingkiong, Aalo and Basar by the end of last month. The money was not disbursed to Itanagar and Naharlagun branches of SBI.

“Sorting fresh money does not take time unlike old cash for reissuing. In a day, a maximum of Rs 1-crore can be sorted by the personnel of a branch,” Boro said.

On a recent order by the finance secretary asking various banks to issue money to teachers and contractors, the senior SBI officer said they money had been transferred to respective accounts. “The account holders have received money in their accounts, though they may not be able to withdraw (because of the cash crunch),” he said.

Bank clients are not convinced about the problems the banks are facing. “Whatever their internal problems are, we need money for our day-to-day life,” said a man waiting in queue outside an ATM.

“We cannot keep moving from one ATM to the other in search of cash. I don’t know what the government is up to, but they should make cash available at the ATMs as well as in the banks,” another said.

A man said the ministers were busy touring foreign countries with public money while ignoring the problems being faced by the common people. “I had to stand in queue for almost three hours for cash to get a challan approved for land allotment,” he said in anger.

“We have money in our account but cannot withdraw it. It seems the government has taken us back to the demonetization days,” a middle-aged man said.

While students have to wait hours to get a few hundred rupees to buy rice, pulses and vegetables for sustenance, the hardest hit have been the people who are in the State capital for medical reasons.

“After having trouble admitting our patient, we are finding it hard to buy medicines simply because we cannot get cash,” an attendant of a patient said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the "temporary shortage" in certain states was being "tackled quickly" and that there was "more than adequate" currency in circulation.

In a statement, the Finance Ministry acknowledged there had been an unusual spurt in currency demand in the country in the last three months, but did not give specific reasons.

It has also decided to ramp up the supply of new Rs 500 notes, even as reports suggested that Rs 2,000 notes, which are easier to hoard, were particularly impacted by the shortage.