Pics: Joshwa D'Souza 

Daijiworld Media Network- Mangaluru (JD) 

Mangaluru, Nov 14: Economists have predicted that economy will go cashless in the future due to more usage of plastic money. But the economy in city has gone cashless in a different way. 

Here is a bad news for all the people who are struggling to come out of the shock of demonetisation due to the shortage of currency notes. Due to the heavy withdrawals, most of the ATM machines in city have become useless for customers. Most of them are cashless and hence useless. Few dispense the cash but people are not happy to accept Rs 2,000 notes as there is shortage of change in market. 

Security personnel at the ATMs were sending the public back after informing them about  ATMs not functioning. Some people were seen going to many ATMs and cursing the people responsible for the condition. 

Similar to ATMs, many of the bank branches were also cashless. Most of them were found giving Rs 2,000 notes while a few had the lower denominations. There were no longer queues and rush similar to that of initial few days.   

As per our survey, most of the bank branches and ATMs in city are cashless from November 9. Cash comes and goes. There is no proper flow. Cash gets emptied within hours. 

Speaking to Daijiworld, a person named Austin Pinto pointed out that the situation is worse than it was during the time of curfew was imposed in the city 12 years ago. "During the time of curfew, we had the cash but we could not come out. Now we cannot spend our own hard earned money. They must have put Rs 100 notes in the market before implementing the demonetisation or by this time. This measure at least would have helped everyone. No one is ready to accept Rs 2000 bill as they do not have the change or they want to preserve them." 

A college boy who came to withdraw the money from his account said that he could not get the cash as there was no money in the bank. "They said they have no cash, neither for exchange nor for withdrawal. I do not know what to do as the ATMs of this bank along with the other banks are not working. I do not know why they made such rubbish rules." 

Another aged person, who came to the bank from his night shift duty as watchman, said that his salary was credited into his account by the employer and but there is no cash. "I have no cash. I hope the situation will be better tomorrow." 

While enquired about the shortage of the cash, the bank officials blamed RBI authorities and said they were not responsible for this. 

Moreover, in private hospitals, there have been incidents where patients who have recuperated and ready for discharge are unable to go home as they have no cash to pay the bills. 

That's not all. There have been reporters about those who who are literally 'cashing in' on the situation, by accepting Rs 500 notes for payments of lesser values, and not giving back the change. 

All said and done, people want to see past ‘Acche Din’ of notes, again.