Long, snaking queues continued to be seen outside banks and ATMs here today with those facing cash paucity complained of having to wait for hours as the bank branches themselves were running short of currency notes.
Longer queues were seen outside the public sector banks where a sizeable number of account holders are retired persons and senior citizens.
There was increased anxiety among some customers as the bank staff took longer time to process their cash request.
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"Earlier, I had decided to wait a bit longer and then approach an ATM to withdraw money for my weekly needs. I witnessed that there has been some crunch of Rs 100 denomination notes in the market," said Vinayak Bhargav, who runs an electrical service centre in Mulund.
"Union Finance Minister has also admitted that ATMs would take longer time for calibration. In such a situation, even I am forced to visit bank and wait in a queue," he said.
Those having current accounts with banks are also hit hard, he said.
"Current account holders are the ones who provide some services, run shops and restaurants -- where daily large cash is generated and it is deposited in their accounts. Such account holders are given special treatment by bank officials as well. However, in the post demonetisation days, the cash generation is reduced but daily deposition is also getting time-consuming because of long queues," Bhargav said.
Some people with accounts in cooperative banks complained that they took longer time to get their money exchanged from such banks because of the cash crunch.
Vaidehi Madiwale, a resident of suburban Borivali, said, "The cooperative bank manager came out today morning and told the people in the queue that the bank has ran out of currency notes of Rs 100 and the supply of new notes from public sector banks is not sufficient to cater to the needs of the customers."
"If the manager's claim is true, then some senior government officer should intervene and ensure that cooperative banks get enough cash supply," she said.
Meanwhile, workers from various political parties came
out to help the people standing in queues outside banks and ATMs in the megacity, by offering them drinking water and refreshments like tea.
The workers of BJP, Shiv Sena and MNS and Congress visited some bank branches and offered refreshments.
"Almost everybody is affected by the decision of demonetisation and we realised that people above (the age of) 50 are worried more. The offering of water or tea is an attempt to bring some relief. It also gives a psychological support to the people who are anxious and unnecessarily worried," a Shiv Sena worker said.
When asked if such help is being offered as the civic elections are coming up next year, he claimed that party workers offer help on every major occasion, while political gain is an additional return.
"Many of my friends, relatives and colleagues are facing some kind of inconvenience and we have to extend support to them," he said.
Though there has been some relief through such help from political outfits, the process of verification of notes, updating the accounts and printing it on passbooks is taking time, increasing the woes of the bank customers.
The Reserve Bank today said enough cash is available at banks and people need not be anxious and make repeated trips to branches and ATMs to hoard money.
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Meanwhile, the scenario was same in Nashik where even senior citizens and women queued up before banks since morning to exchange their demonetised notes or to withdraw cash.
All vegetable markets on the bank of river Godavari, in Akashwani Centre, and CIDCO wore a deserted look as people did not have enough 'change' to buy vegetables.
Also there were long queues before the ATMs.
The residents used the scrapped Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes for paying house or water taxes in Nashik Municipal Corporation, an official release said.
