Jamshedpur , Nov. 28: Banks that opened after two holidays witnessed rush. ATMs which started dispensing cash after three days also saw long queues.
The banks were closed on Saturday and Sunday on account of holiday while most of the ATMs were not filled with cash on Friday by the private service providers owing to security concern during statewide bandh.
People who have marriages have been hit maximum. �Marriage of my daughter is scheduled in the first week of December. The functions will start soon. I have an account with Bank of India, and I had to stand in queue to get my money,� said a Tata Steel employee and a resident of Sakchi.
Meanwhile, following to RBI directives banks have started using mobile vans to open accounts of workers engaged on contractual basis and in unorganized sector to ease payment hassles.
East Singhbhum lead district manager, Phalguni Roy said that they have set up mobile vans at various points near Tata Steel gates and also near various other industries to help contract workers open account. This will be continued for few days so that majority of workers have an account and have their salaries credited to their accounts without any problems.
Many customers ran from one ATM to another without much success. Jayakrishnan said, “I went to three or four ATMs in the morning, but all were empty. Then I stood in a queue in a private bank to deposit,” he said.
An official who is in charge of ATM machines of a public sector bank in the city said the ATM machines used to be loaded with higher denominations. “The machines are yet to be configured with lower denominations and it will get ready in two days,” he said.
�Most of the ATMs have been recalibrated for dispensing new Rs 500 notes along with Rs 2000 and Rs 100 from today morning. This will reduce the long queues before ATMs on the simple logic that ATM will function for a longer period catering to more number of individuals before getting exhausted as the upper limit of withdrawal is still Rs 2500,� said AGM SBI main branch Rajesh Verma.
Meanwhile, banks are resorting to innovative means to cater to the people grappling with crisis in the wake of demonetization.