Government attempts damage control as ATMs run dry

Jaitley blames ‘spurt in demand’; Congress recalls note ban

Amidst reports of a cash crunch from different parts of the country, Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the government was “tackling the issue quickly” to overcome a “temporary shortage” caused by a sudden spurt in demand.

But with hash tags #cashcrunch and #ATM trending on Twitter all day, Opposition leaders launched a scathing attack on the government.

Minister’s assurance

Responding to the currency shortage, Mr. Jaitley tweeted: “Have reviewed the currency situation in the country. Over all there is more than adequate currency in circulation and also available with the Banks. The temporary shortage caused by sudden and unusual increase in some areas is being tackled quickly.”

In a statement, the Finance Ministry said there has been an unusual spurt in currency demand in the past three months and is seen more in some parts of the country like Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar.

Appealing to citizens not to panic, the Finance Ministry said, “We continue to have in stock adequate currency notes of all denominations, including of ₹500, ₹200 and ₹100 to meet any demand.”

Congress president Rahul Gandhi claimed that the “terror of note ban” had returned and accused Prime Minister Narendra Modi of ‘destroying’ the banking sector with demonetisation.

In Amethi on a visit to his Lok Sabha constituency, Mr. Gandhi said, “Prime Minister Narendra Modi took out of ₹500/₹1000 notes from your pockets and put it in Nirav Modi’s pocket. PM calls him as Nirav and Mehulbhai. He can go around the country but doesn’t have the time to speak for 15 minutes because he wont be able to stand there.”

Reacting to the crisis, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee asked if there was a “Financial Emergency” in the country.

“Seeing reports of ATMs running out of cash in several States. Big notes missing. Reminder of Demonetisation days. Is there a Financial Emergency going on in the country?” she asked in a tweet.

‘Govt. not trusted’

CPI (M) general secretary Sitaram Yechury, in a series of tweets, said people no longer trusted the government’s claim of adequate cash. “ATMs were empty in November 2016. ATMs are empty now. And the only party flush with cash is the BJP: People suffer,” he said in one of the tweets.

Former Finance Minister P. Chidambaram said the government was “obliged to provide as much cash as people want and the government and the RBI cannot arbitrarily control the supply of cash.”

But despite the assurances, reports of shortage of cash poured from all parts of the country. From Delhi to Coimbatore, Bhopal to Patna, Varanasi to Hyderabad, people complained of ATMs running dry.

In the northeastern States too, a series of festivals and public holidays created a situation of high demand for cash and consequently ATMs ran dry in States like Assam and Manipur. “The sitituation is normal now and we are having cash in our branches,”said a Guwahati-based bank official.

But cash crunch hit hard in some parts of Delhi. “Since morning I have visited at least four ATMs in different areas but unfortunately there is no cash even at one. This is proving to be a huge problem as yet again without any warning the ATMs have started running dry. I am hardly left with any cash right now and I am trying to think what to do” said Alka Sharma, a 22 year old student.

Guards stationed outside ATMs in Delhi’s ITO area confirmed that several customers have returned disappointed as there had been no replenishment of thr ATMs for close to 20 hours.

“The marriage season in Bihar is to start in few days and if this cash crunch continues for few more days, it will create a panic like the situation at the time of demonetisation. For marriage or other functions people need hard cash”, Arvind Kumar Jha, a Patna-based businessman fearing a dip in sales.

Other districts of the State like Chhapra, Madhubani, Bhojpur too have been facing cash crunch in Bank ATMs for past few days as people could be seen standing in long queues for hours outside some SBI ATMs.

In Madhya Pradesh, while Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan hinted at the Opposition’s role for “creating a shortage of ₹2000, the Congress made a counter allegation. “The cash crunch is because most of ₹2000 notes are being sent to poll-bound Karnataka,” Leader of Opposition in Madhya Pradesh Assembly Ajay Singh alleged.

‘RBI not meeting demands’

“We do not have enough money in our branches and ATMs…we’re receiving only 2,500 crore from RBI against our demand of 12,000 crore…out of 2,500 crore we’re receiving 600 crore goes for filling 1,500 ATMs across the State,” Uma Kant Singh, president of the SBI officers’ employee association, Bihar circle, told journalists in Patna, while adding further, “if RBI is unable to fulfil our cash requirements how will we serve our customers?”.