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Rush at ATMs continues in Delhi, senior citizens line up
New Delhi
New Delhi
Banks reserved Saturday for senior citizens and customers of home branches but it did not do much to ease the situation as people complained of long queues at many places.
Officials in central and south Delhi said there was marginal decrease in queues outside banks but inside the madness remained. Banks officials in other parts of Delhi however said they continued to see a huge rush.
Subhash Sharma (66), a resident of Laxmi Nagar and a retired school teacher, who was standing outside a state Bank of India branch said, “If they had reserved the day for us, they should not have allowed younger customers. I have a joint pain but I stood in a queue for two hours.”
Dhananjay Malhotra (75), a resident of Old Rajender Nagar, said he had to wait for three hours and 45 minutes in a queue. The bank should have introduced a token or a receipt system so that we could have sat somewhere.”
Some senior citizens suggested banks should have reserved a weekday instead as working people were likely to throng banks on a Saturday.
Others who got lucky said they were happy they could finally reach the cash counter after several attempts over the last few days.
“I was in a queue on two days but didn’t get a chance to enter banks. Today, at least I could withdraw my money,” said Arif, Aslam, 70, a resident of Daryaganj.
The crowd at ATMs in parts of central, New Delhi and south Delhi areas declined marginally as mobile vans and petrol pumps dispensed cash in some areas. Banks and ATMs in east Delhi and Old Delhi, however, continued to see long queues.
Around eight petrol pumps dispensed cash, including an Indian Oil pump in Jorbagh, an HPCL outlet Chanakyapuri and two company owned company operated pumps in Motinagar and Pitampura.
All India Petroleum Dealers Association president Ajay Bansal said that around eight stations have started the facility but it would be introduced in 20 more in the next two days.
Read: In Pics | The gold rush: Delhi braces the cold in the mad scramble for cash
A petrol pump staff in Jorbagh, where the facility was first started said, “We exhausted Rs 1 lakh in just five hours.” SBI has kept a cap of Rs 1 lakh to be distributed by a petrol pump.
A State Bank of India official said 20 mobile ATMs had been introduced across the city. One can withdraw a maximum of Rs 2000 from these mobile vans.
Cash seized
The Delhi police on Saturday arrested a man allegedly carrying a bag containing Rs 96 lakh in 1000 rupee notes in east Delhi’s Anand Vihar.
According to the police, Nazer-e-Alam was about to board a bus at a terminal when he was stopped for checking. He was detained for questioning and as he was unable to give satisfactory answers, he was arrested.
“Alam told the police that he was taking the amount to Gorakhpur. He, however, could not give a satisfactory explanation for possessing such a large amount,” an official said.
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