Banks witness heavy rush; cashless left in the lurch

​Mahbubnagar:Almost all banks in Mahbubnagar district have witnessed heavy rush as thousands of people in dire need of money thronged at the banks right from morning to till evening either depositing or exchanging their old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes for small change with the banks.

However, the people standing in long queues, mainly comprising small and middle class had to face lot of inconvenience as neither the banks were ready to give small change, nor the ATMs were functioning. “

It been two days I am roaming around the bank for my money to get it exchange. But they are giving only Rs. 4000 per day. As I don’t have an ATM card I have no option but to come again and stand in the line for the second day,” said Teekamma of Peddbai Thanda from Tirumalagiri village of Rajapur mandal.

The worst affected were the people from the remote rural villages who have no bank accounts. Teekamma is one such woman with no bank account but had earned about Rs. 80,000 in cash by selling her maize crop and all her money now is invalid as it is in the denomination of Rs. 500.

Another farmer Chandraiah of Bandameedipally village of Jadcherla mandal too had to face a similar situation and is roaming from pillar to post to convert his agriculture earnings into legal money.

As I don’t have a bank account, the bankers are asking me to open an account and deposit my money into the bank. But as the rush is heavy today, they have asked me to come two three days later, but at present I have no money to spend as nobody is giving a change for the bigger notes of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000,” said Chandraiah as he pored his woes.

In all the four districts of Mahabubnagar, Gadwal, Wanaparthy and Nagarkurnool, there are 403 branches of different banks and all have started functioning during the past two days.