BY OUR STAFF REPORTER
GUWAHATI, Nov 10: Along with the rest of the country, though banks in Assam and other Northeast states on Thursday began issuing new currency notes to customers and other people, it was hardly sufficient to meet the crisis generated by the Centre’s sudden demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.
Except the State Bank of India (SBI), several tiolized and private banks across Assam failed to provide satisfactory service to customers who were seen standing in serpentine queues since wee hours to deposit the old notes into their accounts or get new ones. In Guwahati, banks located on the outskirts got limited cash supply till afternoon, making the situation worse.
Similar scenes were seen in sub post offices in various parts of the State. Reports of altercations between post office staff and customers have been coming from different places since Thursday morning. One can well imagine the situation faced by banks and post offices located in interior places of the State and the people living there. Many banks and post offices in rural areas didn’t even get hold of the new cash till Thursday evening.
There was a frenzied rush at most banks and post offices in Guwahati to exchange the now-valueless Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and withdraw money. As ATMs remained closed on Thursday for the second consecutive day across the State, people thronged banks since early morning to exchange the scrapped notes with new ones.
Even before the banks opened at 10 am, long queues were seen outside bank branches in and around the city and also at post office counters. Due to scarcity of cash, some tiolized banks were forced to close their exchange counters before scheduled time. Some private banks gave importance to their customers, making other people standing in queues impatient. Many people were seen visiting one bank after another to exchange their devalued notes.
Given the crisis, it remains uncertain whether ATMs of all banks in the State will start vending currency notes from Friday as per the requirement.
IANS from Agartala and Aizawl adds: “Out of the seven Northeastern states, Tripura, Mizoram and Manipur are yet to get the new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 denomition currency notes. We are not sure when the new currency notes would be distributed among the customers,” SBI Regiol Mager Dipak Chowdhury told IANS.
He said: “Today (Thursday) people are only depositing old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in their bank accounts. In limited quantities, we are giving Rs 100 and smaller denomition currency notes. We are trying our best to make available new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 and lower denomition currency notes from Saturday-Sunday.”
“People are cooperating with the bank staff and there is no report of any untoward incident from anywhere in the Northeast. Most of the bank staff and officials are doing the note exchange-related work,” the SBI official said.
Chowdhury said a high-level meeting of senior bank officials was held in Guwahati on Wednesday to discuss modalities to deal with the situation arising out of scrapping of high-denomition currency notes.
Trade and business activities have been badly hit in the region, as most traders were refusing to accept the old Rs 500/Rs 1,000 notes.
In Tripura, even the State Electricity Corporation, most jewellers, cooking gas dealers and travel agencies were not accepting the old notes, putting a large number of people to great difficulty.
However, most petrol pumps and medicine shops in Tripura, Mizoram, Manipur and other Northeastern states were accepting the old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.
Meanwhile, adequate security arrangements have been made at all bank branches in Tripura and other NE States to help both bankers and people in the transaction and prevent any untoward situation.
“The bank authorities had sought security at all bank branches. Accordingly, we have deployed armed security personnel at all bank branches across Tripura,” State Director General of Police K garaj told IANS.