Long queues, confusion in banks across Delhi as exchange of Rs 2,000 notes begins
Darpan News Desk IANS, 23 May, 2023 10:29 AM
New Delhi, May 23 (IANS) As the process for exchange of Rs 2,000 currency notes began on Tuesday, long queues were observed at various bank branches in Delhi as customers eagerly exchanged the currency notes for smaller denominations.
However, at some places, people alleged that the banks were asking them to deposit the money instead and even demanded the ID proof.
Amar Singh, standing in a long queue at ICICI Bank branch in Green Park, said that there has been length of the line was there since the morning and chaos and confusion rules as bank staff are refusing to exchange the note and asking to deposit them.
"Most of us want to exchange notes and if the bank is not able to do, than it is their fault if they haven't made proper arrangements to exchange the Rs 2,000 currency. Why should we deposit them," he said.
"My wife had saved Rs 16000 and all of them are Rs 2000 notes," he added.
At some banks, there were even arguments between bank customers and staff.
"I came here at Lajpat Nagar's PNB bank in the morning and it has been more than two hours, I am still waiting for my turn to exchange the currency. They are working very slow," said Amresh Sharma, 68.
"Most of us are elderly and they (bank staff) do not care about us," he said.
Meanwhile, several people also complained regarding the fuel stations not accepting the Rs 2,000 notes.
"Instead of accepting Rs 2,000 note, the fuel station worker asked me to pay online as they are not accepting the notes, which are still legal tender," said 24-year-old Sahil, a resident of Malviya Nagar.
Chaos was also witnessed at Azadpur vegetable market, where the sellers alleged that most of the buyers coming to the market are using Rs 2,000 notes to buy items.
"The buyers are bringing only Rs 2,000 notes juist get rid of them," a wholesaler said in the vegetable market.
Accused Sahil Gehlot was arrested after the body of a woman, a resident of Haryana's Jhajjar, was found inside a fridge at a dhaba, owned by him, on the outskirts of village Mitraon in Delhi. As per sources, the murder was committed near the Kashmiri Gate area and Gehlot then drove with the dead body all the way to his dhaba - a distance of around 36 km.
A Turkish Airlines flight took off from Delhi carrying material donated by the Indians on Monday. India has been running 'Operation Dost' in Turkey and Syria, ever since the countries were hit by the calamity.
At his weekly press briefing here, Gill said the police have recovered 529.53 kg heroin from the state after carrying out cordon and search operations in drug-affected areas. Additionally, 147.5 kg heroin was recovered by the police from seaports of Gujarat and Maharashtra, taking the total effective recovery of heroin to 677.03 kg in seven months, he said.
In a statement here, SAD General Secretary Parambans Singh Romana said the truth about the Delhi model of school education had been "exposed" yet again with the national survey on Pupil Teacher Ratio (PTR) showing that Delhi had the worst PTR next to only Bihar in the country.
The police said that a reward of Rs 25,000 was also declared for any information leading to his arrest. The accused has been identified as Salman alias Suleman, a resident of Jahangirpuri.
On February 7, the court took cognisance of the charge sheet filed by the Delhi Police against Poonawala and posted the matter for its scrutiny on February 21. On January 24, the police had filed the charge sheet in the case which contains over 6,000 pages and the court had extended Poonawala's custody for 14 days.
