50 days of Demonetisation: Cash and Custom ‘less’ in Ghaziabad

“There has been no cash in this ATM since November 12, four days after the announcement of the PM,” claims the guard manning it wearily. Pointing to the ‘No Cash’ board he adds with a wan smile, “I have no reason to stand guard here.”

While Guptaji from Mainpuri in Uttar Pradesh has been standing guard at the HDFC ATM in Ghaziabad, the guard at the ICICI Bank close by, Chandirak from Nalanda, Bihar is bitter. “There has been no cash here since November 9…if the Government cannot fill ATMs with cash, how do I believe the Prime Minister when he says all would be well,” he grumbles.

The sole breadwinner for his family he adds, “I cannot feed myself. How will I help my family?” Pointing to the dense fog he philosophises, “Even gods are not happy, you see”.

On December 30 when this correspondent visited 10 ATMs in Ghaziabad, the story was similar at as many as eight of them. Several of these ATMs were actually closed and did not have any guard either. Only two of the ATMs were disbursing cash.

A syndicate bank ATM in Vasundhara, Sector 13 was half closed. It was a little after noon. The guard informed, “We did not receive cash for the last three days. But I expect the cash van in the next few hours, which is why I have raised the shutter half way .”

Anuradha Sharma owns a dry-cleaning outlet in Vasundhara Sector-4. We found her pacing up and down restlessly outside the outlet. Despondent, she says she had reposed her faith in the PM and expected things would improve within 50 days. But compared to at least 10 customers a day last year around this time, hardly one or two customers have been dropping in this month.

“Will the Prime Minister feed my family?” asks the lady who became a widow 14 years ago. She had moved to UP from Punjab and has been struggling to raise two sons and a daughter. While the dry-cleaning business had stabilised, demonetisation of currency notes has put her back to square one, she despaired.

Ram Avadh Yadav visits Ghaziabad every year from Muzzaffarnagar every winter to sell “Khadi Gramodyog Bhandar” products. He applied for Paytm and a swipe machine in the wake of demonetisation but he is yet to get one.

“Last year we did good business. We had sold stuff worth ₹8-9 lakh a month last winter, but this year we are keeping our fingers crossed.”