Ahmedabad/Rakot/Surat/Gandhinagar: At least 2 persons fainted owing to standing in long queues in front of banks today even as the hustle to exchange and withdraw currency notes from banks, ATM’s and post-offices continued for the fourth consecutive day across Gujarat in the wake of the invalidation of Rs 500 and 1000 notes.

On the other hand the state government today announced that all the banks and post offices in the state will remain open tomorrow as well despite it being a holiday as per government’s calendar.

A youth fainted in Limabadi town of Surendranagar district today while he was standing in a queue in front of Bank of India to exchange old notes. The boy was standing in the queue since morning and after around 4 hours he suddenly fainted. He was later sent to a local hospital, police said.

In yet another such incident a senior citizen fainted in front of the State Bank of India in Chitra road of Godhara town in central Gujarat. He was also standing in a queue to get some usable cash in lieu of old invalidated notes.

People across the state had to suffer today as well owing to non-working or running out of cash of the ATM’s. In Surat, Rajkot, Ahmedabad, Vadodara, Jamnagar, Anand, Patan and other cities and towns many people complained of not getting any cash from banks, post offices and ATM’s despite standing in long queues for hours. Reports of non receiving of old Rs 500/1000 notes by petrol pumps, gas filling stations and other utility bill centers despite government’s instructions also came from many places.

Vipul Chikani, a youth in Rajkot said that he stood in the queue for over 3 hours but was later told that the bank had run out of cash.

‘I am not against the PM’s decision to ban the notes to punish the corrupt ones and check the black money but the government should also ensure that the commoners should not suffer like this and for a longer period. If it continued like this, It might backfire,’ he said.

Jayesh Bhatt, a Vadodara resident, who could not get any cash despite hours of standing in queues for the second consecutive day today said,’ the Prime Minister must ensure that the ATM’s and banks are replenished with cash as soon as they run out of it. The common man should not suffer for too long. If the government feels that there were unwanted elements in the queues it should develop a mechanism to check them and pull them out,’ he said.

Meanwhile Chief Secretary J N Singh today chaired a meeting of the finance department and RBI officials. Later addressing a press conference he said that the banks and post offices across the state will remain open tomorrow despite it being a holiday in the state.

He also said that people should not give any ear to the rumours regarding shortage of various commodities like Sugar, Salt etc.

‘The decision of the PM is a welcome step for the economy and check on black money. People should now understand that they should adopt to the habit of online transactions through Debit/Credit cards as soon as possible,’ he said.

DeshGujarat