ATMs run out of new cash

​Hyderabad: There was no respite for the common man on Friday too as ATMs failed to re-open with huge rushes continued to flock banks across Telangana to withdraw or deposit cash.

People expecting some relief with the scheduled re-opening of ATMs were in for a huge disappointment as almost all ATMs remained non-functional.

Some ATMs opened in a few places in Hyderabad but ran out of cash with in no time. Officials of various banks attributed the delay to the technical snags that have to be made for dispensing new notes. The banks are also yet to receive new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 currency notes to be loaded in the ATMs.

The bank officials said that it would take couple of more days for the ATMs to resume functioning. According to a branch manager of a private bank, the demonetised notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 are yet to be removed from majority of the ATMs.

There was utter confusion at all branches as well as post offices, railway stations and bus stations. Despite instructions from the Union government, the staff was reluctant to accept the notes.

At many places, they had run out of change soon after opening the counters. Chaos prevailed at all banks where serpentine queues were seen everywhere. Though the government has given time to exchange the notes till December 31, there was near scramble everywhere.

The bank officials and volunteers have been informing the people that they need not worry about exchanging their old notes since they have time till December 31 but there was some kind of fear among the people that if they do not do it now, it may be too late.

As a result, people lined up since morning to either exchange the demonetised notes with new ones or deposit them.

With people parking their vehicles around the banks, it led to traffic problems at some places. Bank authorities and police had a tough time controlling the crowds.

"I am waiting for two hours to exchange the notes," said Sudhakar Rao, a customer at State Bank of India branch at Shaikpet.