37 Days Post Note Ban, City Sees No Respite

Thirty seven days post-demonetization of the 500 and 1,000 currency bills, Hyderabad, the rest of Telangana and a few parts of Andhra Pradesh are still reeling under immense financial pressure as most ATMs in the city remain closed and several banks declared dry vaults on the Thursday morning.

The morning was filled with despair, restlessness and anxiety as 100s of people queued in front of banks, especially SBIs and Andhra Banks, hoping to draw cash and do other banking tasks.

Speaking to the media, several patrons lamented that the new 500 notes had not reached the banks yet, and even if they did, the same were not being disbursed. Several pensioners above the age of 60 were also seen standing in line to collect pension money, only to be turned down after waiting for hours.

Scuffles and riot-like situations broke out in a few places in AP and in a few banks in Hyderabad, with the bank staff and customers breaking into groups to argue. Some patrons reported verbal abuse by bankers, while bankers reported harassment by customers.

Several banks reported failing servers and softwares, which added to the woes of both the staff and the customers. Angry customers stormed out of banks premises, and held the State, the Centre and the RBI responsible for the "debacle" as the Central government had promised that the situation would neutralize after 50.

And as the days close in and still see no sign of respite in sight, most patrons who spoke to the media seemed to have only one question in mind - would the financial situation of the nation ever return to normal?