ATMs run dry across the country ; Jaitley says cash crunch temporary

“Have reviewed the currency situation in the country. Over all there is more than adequate currency in circulation and also available with the Banks. The temporary shortage caused by ‘sudden and unusual increase’ in some areas is being tackled quickly,” Jaitley tweeted.

He added that there was adequate currency in circulation and with the banks and that the situation would be tackled quickly.

According to media reports, at least seven states have complained about ATMs going dry.

People from Karnataka, Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Telangana have said that ATMs in their areas either do not have cash or are not functioning, NDTV reported.

Union minister of state for finance SP Shukla has been quoted  news agency ANI as saying that there is a “problem that some states have less currency and others have more,” promising that it will be solved in three days with both the government and the Reserve Bank of India working to “transfer currency from one state to other.”

Reacting to the situation, the opposition blamed the Government.

The Congress conducted  a poll on Twitter that asked whether ATMs running out of cash was “just gross mismanagement by modi government...or...a deliberate move.”

Congress president Rahul Gandhi said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had “destroyed the banking system”. “Nirav Modi fled with Rs 30,000 crore and the prime minister did not utter a word. We were forced to stand in queues as he snatched Rs 500-1,000 notes from our pockets and put it in Nirav Modi’s pocket,” Gandhi told ANI.

CPM leader Sitaram Yechuary tweeted, “ATMs were empty in November 2016. ATMs are empty now. And the only party flush with cash is the BJP: the people suffer.”