Delhiites face harrowing time to exchange high-value notes

People in Delhi had a harrowing time for the second consecutive day as they stood in long queues for hours outside banks to exchange their Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes with new ones even as many of ATMs had not stocked up cash.
Delhiites found it difficult in paying for their household items, essential commodities and vegetables as they ran out of their savings of small currencies.
To manage anxious crowd, as many as 3,400 personnel of paramilitary and Delhi Police, along with 200 quick reaction teams, have been deployed at ATMs and banks across the national capital.
Many of the ATMs were not operative despite the announcement made by the Centre on November 8 that they will be operational from Friday following two-day closure.

However, people returned empty handed as they were told by security guards that the ATMs have not been stocked up with cash till now.
"I had been saving money but it wasn't of any use as all of them were in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations. My only hope after surviving two days without cash was that the ATMs will be operational from today, but owing to many of the ATMs being closed, I had to borrow money from my neighbours," said Sunita Dass, a homemaker.

"I had woken up at 4 AM hoping that I would withdraw money from ATM located nearby, but I was in for a rude shock as I found the ATM didn't have any cash," said IT professional, Sukesh Jain.

Apart from ATMs, serpentine queues were witnessed at banks across the city for the second consecutive day as people thronged to exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 for new currency, some of the banks ran out of cash.
The queues outside the banks grew longer with more people bringing their old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for exchange.
"There is an acute shortage of cash as old notes are no longer useable. I need to go to my office at Nehru Place but I have joined the queue as I have no cash and its getting difficult to survive solely through online shopping," said IT executive Radhika queued up outside a bank in Laxmi Nagar in east Delhi.

Following Prime Minister Narendra Modi's announcement to withdraw the high denomination notes, the banks were ordered to remain closed on Wednesday to realign and reload new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 currency.
Banks have been asked to be open on weekends including Sunday to deal with the situation. The ATMs resumed functioning from today but there is a limit of withdrawl of Rs 2,000 per day which is expected to be increased in coming week.
Major markets and shopping complexes reported marginal trading due to shortage of cash.
Traders in various markets complained that either there were no customers and those who were coming to buy things were bringing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes which are "useless" now.

Transporters in the city also expressed concerns that the plying of trucks on the road will be hit soon as cash is not available in adequate quantity in the market.