Refused money by bank, agitated women block traffic in Daryaganj
A group of angry women blocked traffic on Netaji Subhash Marg in Daryaganj for half an hour after a bank allegedly refused to give them money.
The women were waiting outside Bombay Mercantile Co-operative Bank since early morning hoping to get cash when the bank opened.
Danish Swaleh, an eyewitness who owns a shop near the bank, said, “The women had arrived at the bank early in the morning. The bank opened at 10 am but they were told that there was no cash.”
The women lost their cool and blocked traffic from 10.30 to 11 in the morning, he added.
Police had to intervene after which the traffic was cleared.
A bank official at Bombay Mercantile Co-operative Bank said they are not getting enough cash from the currency chest.
“We had demanded ₹2 crore but we got just ₹2 lakh that was exhausted on Tuesday even though we had put up a cap of ₹4,000 per person,” he said.
The officials at the currency chest said the reason they would not be able to give us money was because their priority at the moment was banks that have salary accounts of people, he said.
“On Wednesday, we had no cash left to give. A bank official has gone to the currency chest hoping to get some cash,” he added.
According to reports, banks and ATMs are running on nearly 40% less cash than they would need.
Most banks in Delhi are refusing withdrawal of ₹24,000 and ATMs don’t dispense over ₹2,500 per card.
Some banks in the national capital are giving ₹4,000 per person while those with better cash availability are disbursing between ₹10,000 and ₹14,000, against the specified limit of ₹24,000.
Despite recalibration of over 90% of the 2.2 lakh ATMs across the country, ATMs are still running out of cash nearly a month after demonetisation.