People in Kerala throng banks as ATMs run dry

People were found standing in serpentine queues and waiting patiently for their turn to exchange old notes

Banks across Kerala continued to witness heavy rush for the second day on Friday with people queuing up early to deposit Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes and to compound their problems, few cash vending machines that opened ran dry within hours.

Despite various banks assuring people that ATMs, which had remained shut for two days, would begin functioning from Friday, only a few of them were open in the early hours, testing the patience of harried customers.

Unprecedented rush was witnessed at the ATMs which opened this morning. But within hours they went dry, following which customers were seen protesting at some places.

With the few ATMS that were functional running dry, people continued to throng additional counters opened by banks.

The state had witnessed a similar rush and serpentine queues at banks on Thursday too with people thronging branches to deposit Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes and exchange them with the newly issued ones.

People, including senior citizens and women, were found patiently standing in queues waiting to exchange their old notes.

Due to the huge crowds, police personnel were deployed at the main branches in many places.