Currency exchange: People allege favouritism by bank employees

Tribune News Service

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Mussoorie, November 13

Residents and tourists have a harrowing experience while exchanging their old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in Mussoorie. They alleged favouritism by the staff of Axis Bank.

The people, who had lined up to exchange their notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 denominations since early morning, were in shock when they saw that some bank employees were exchanging old notes with the new ones of a person on nine IDs.

RK Jaiswal, a resident of Mussoorie, said employees were taking the copies of i-cards from him and giving him cash flouting all guidelines laid down by the RBI. Jaiswal speaking to mediapersons said when he reached Axis Bank, he was shocked to see one businessman was being favoured nine times.

He said when he raised the issue, bank employees behaved rudely and the businessman blocked his way on Mall Road and demanded explanation from him on complaining to the media in a threatening tone.

Jaiswal said after providing the cash to the person, the bank staff closed the counters, saying that the currencies had been finished.

The tourists, standing in the long queue, said they were left with no money as traders in Mussoorie refused to take the old notes despite several pleas, added Jaiswal.

He said mediapersons were also not allowed to enter the bank premises to cover the incident as the bank manager cited the RBI guidelines as the main reason.

Jaiswal said he would complain about the incident to the district administration and demanded that the bank employees distributed the money in accordance with the RBI guidelines. Bank manager Amit Gupta refused to comment on the matter.

Hari Giri, SDM, Mussoorie, said if any written complaint was filed in this regard, he would take action. He also said people could complain about such incidents on the RBI website.

Meanwhile, bank employees at the State Bank of India and Syndicate Bank worked tirelessly despite a heavy rush.

Branch manager, SBI, Vivek Sinha said ATM had started functioning properly and with the arrival of new Rs 500 notes, things would ease further.