In the capital, it is still struggle for cash

New Delhi, Jan 3 (IANS) Three days into the New Year, the ATMs in the Delhi-NCR region are yet to catch up with Prime Minister Narendra Modi's promise of normalcy, as on Tuesday many of these machines were still found either defunct or cashless.

Although many more ATMs are filled with cash now, compared to a week ago, it still requires a bit of scouting around before one can chance upon a machine that may dish out any money.

There was not a single ATM working on the way, starting from Vikas Marg to Sansad Marg (Parliament Street) when an IANS reporter visited them.

Many ATMs in Connaught Place in New Delhi area -- within a radius of barely two km from the Prime Minister's residence on the newly-christened Lok Kalyan Marg -- were found to be working while almost an equal number of them were either devoid of cash or non-functioning.

The ATMs of Standard Chartered and State Bank of India in 'B' and 'C' blocks were found with their servers down.

The cash machines of Oriental Bank of Commerce (OBC), Punjab National Bank, Bank of Maharashtra, and ICICI Bank in 'A' Block had cash, with an average 15-20 persons queuing up for money at each one of them.

None of the ATM machines of IndusInd, SBI, Over seas Bank of Commerce, and Yes Bank at the Rajiv Chowk Metro Station had cash in them.

Modi had asked the people for a grace period of 50 days for relief from the cash drought, which swamped all public sector and private banks as well as ATMs post-demonetisation.

Although the Prime Minister's self-imposed 50-day deadline ended on December 30, what people get at the bank counters and through ATMs is only a trickle of cash. Most of the ATMs in the capital are still dry, while many machines remain even to be calibrated to dole out the differently sized new currency notes.