Empty banks, ATMs greet people

Tribune News Service

Dehradun/ Mussoorie, December 5

The currency crisis continues with most banks are unable to provide the cash to account holders in Dehradun and Mussoorie today.

Most ATMs remained closed and availability of cash in banks in Dehradun was restricted.

In Mussoorie also, most of the ATMs were closed due to unavailability of cash causing inconvenience to residents and tourists alike who had to run from one bank to other seeking some cash to spend for the day.

Most bank officials said the cash had completely dried up in their banks — the State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank, Syndicate Bank, Yes Bank and Axis Bank.

They were hopeful that the cash could reach the currency chest in the State Bank of India, Dehradun and Mussoorie, by tonight or tomorrow morning and only the situation could ease up to certain extent.

The condition of banks in the remote districts of Uttarkashi is also precarious and with little cash left for transactions.

Things can worsen, said Harish Thapliyal, said a resident of Chnyali Suad block here.

At Mussoorie, Randeep Singh, a tourist from Delhi, said they did not have a single penny in the pocket and did not know how they would pay for the food at restaurants today. He lamented the fact that most of the shopkeepers did not have swipe cards or facilities for electronic mode of transaction here, causing more inconvenience to the tourists.

Solochna, another tourist from Bengal, said, “When I asked a shopkeeper about Paytm or other e-wallets, he was not aware of any such arrangement.”

Shopkeepers said due to absence of any upgrade system in banks, they had not taken a keen interest in the e-banking system.

The connectivity to swipe cards was down most of the time and sometime, ATM also did not work in the hill town of Mussoorie, said Rajat, a trader here.

IT expert in the town Anand Rawat, who has been busy attending service calls of various banks following the demonetisation exercise, said most of the banks were using second or third generation computers which was inadequate for the volume of work now in the banks.

Hence the government should try to upgrade the systems before promoting cashless economy in the hill state

State Bank of India branch manager Vivek Singh said their systems were up to the mark and they had introduced State Bank Quick for better online banking security and Stae Bank Buddy e-wallet on lines of Paytm for cashless services.

He said the bank was trying to provide swipe card machines to shops for ease in transaction. He also said the banks had also outsourced the cash delivery system to village. This scheme would be strengthened after the demonetisation exercise was completed.

Meanwhile, the common man in the town said the currency crisis could come to end soon otherwise it could have political ramifications which would not go in favour of Narendra Modi, PM, and the BJP.