A report by India Samvad states that just ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in Varanasi on December 22, RBI has delivered a truckload of new currency in the region
Only yesterday Sabrangindia had carried an image story showing the pathetically long queues outside in various parts of Varanasi
Picture:Teesta Setalvad
After the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes by the Modi government in the nation, several districts of eastern region have been suffering from asevere cash crunch. It has now come to light that ahead of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's rally in his constituency on December 22, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has delivered a truckload of new currency at banks and ATMs of Varanasi.
The move is expected to bring relief to people of Varanasi and nearby regions. As per reports, two trucks filled with new currency denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 were sent to Varanasi to ease the cash crunch.Purvanchal,eastern Uttar Pradesh has been experiencing a sharp crunch with incidents of violence also being reported.
It is speculated that the total amount of currency brought here is nearly Rs 2,000 crore and the regions including Chandoli, Gazipur, Jaunpur, Azamgarh, Baliya, Mau, Mirzapur, Bhadohi and Sonbhadra will benefit from this move. Pre-election moves or sops?
LDM of the Union Bank Ranjit Singh denied commenting on the exact amount but clarified that RBI has sent a load of new currency to ease the cash crunch. The Deputy General Manager of State Bank of India, Sanjay Mishra said that the banks and ATMs have been equipped with new currency notes.
He assured that people will no longer suffer now because of less cash and won't complaint of not being able to withdraw money from banks and ATMs. There are total 39 banks in Varanasi with 456 branches while total ATMs are 674 in number. Now, the officials priority will be to keep the ATMs full with currency.
The State Bank of India has 174 ATMs in the region. Some of them were shut till now due to some technical snag. However, now they are being repaired with the arrival of cash. With the help of cargo planes, some currency was even airlifted to Varanasi.
Nearly 140 boxes of new currency were delivered at the Babatpur airport here and they the bank officials were told of the division. The new currency was then loaded in trucks and further sent to various bank branches. Sources told that 140 boxes consisted of more than Rs 1,000 crore of new currency.