Confusion, chaos, tiffs as Mumbai queues up to exchange cash

People queue up outside Bank of Baroda near Rajmata Wadapav Centre in Thane West, this morning. Pic/SameerMarkande

As banks across the city opened for business a day after Narendra Modi's demonitisation announcement, panicking customers queued up to withdraw cash. Some of them had been waiting since early morning, while others had taken time out from work to wrap up the task. Most staff seemed geared to tackle the chaos, as banks had called in additional human resource.

As banks opened their gates this morning, Mumbaikars raced to get their notes exchanged. Despite deploying extra hands for the big day, the chaos kept bank employees on their toes. "People are panicking and are frustrated as it's a matter of money. We have to still keep our calm and be efficient in this as one mistake from our end could jeopardise the customer's money. Everything happened so suddenly," said Aparna Dalvi, from the Saraswat Bank, who was transferred from the Forex department, especially for today.

Queuing up since 5am
People have been queuing up since 5 am. Heena Sharma, who was standing in the queue, said "We are working middleclass people who have to rush to office in the morning. I have left everything and come here. Yes, we support the government, but suddenly something like this is making our lives difficult."

Ashwini Gokhale and her son Nishant wait outside a bank to exchange notes

While people rushed and employees ran around the bank premises, the branch manager of State Bank of India, Shivshankar Parashar, said, "I know there is a lot of inconvenience but I'm enjoying it. The chaos and confusion will be there for a day or two. What happens in the big picture is what makes all of this worth it."

Too many formalities
The limit for exchange of currency was Rs 4,000, but customers are allowed to withdraw a maximum of R10,000 a day; the limit for the week is Rs 20,000. As part of the Know Your Customer (KYC), banks have been asking for photocopies of ID proof and people who came as early as 8-8.30 am couldn't find one at that point and got into arguments.

Union Bank and State Bank of India, however, did not have money to exchange. One of the employees said, "The cash hasn't come yet. It will come after November 11 or even later, we don't know."

Long wait
Shashikant Lad, a resident of Dahisar left his home early to go his bank at Bandra (E). He reached the bank by 9am. "I was third in the queue but had to leave as each person was taking 20-25 minutes. The banks were asking for a photocopy of Aadhaar card as proof," said Lad. He left as was getting late for work. For the time being they were not exchanging the Rs 500 denomination notes.

Some customers were seen queuing up since early morning in the hope of withdrawing cash and making a dash for work. Pic/Sameer Markande

There were banks such as ICICI in Thane district that were distributing water to people standing in serpentine queues.

Vijay Kiswe, BEST bus conductor and resident of Navi Mumbai, was standing in a queue outside IDBI bank for more than an hour. He said, "I am suffering from tuberculosis and need cash for any emergency. So last month, I withdrew Rs 40,000. Now, I need the cash exchanged."

Raghu Babu Gangolu, a resident of Vijaywada in Andhra Pradesh who came by road said, "On Thursday morning I reached Mumbai with my wife for her interview. No guest house was available for us on the way as they were not accepting R500 or R1,000. We reached Mumbai without having dinner and breakfast as we only had R500 and R1,000 notes."