Hyderabad: Automated Teller Machines (ATMs) in the city have gone dry ahead of the Eid ul Fitr festival. Complaints about people unable to draw cash from the ATMs are pouring in from the older parts of the city especially the market places leading to problems for the public.
Not all traders accept e-payment, they insist on cash, and getting it is a strenuous task. I visited at least five ATMs and was unable to get cash,” said Abdul Fareed, an engineering student from Yakutpura.
There are about 300 ATM kiosks in the Old City including in thickly populated areas of, Chandrayangutta, Tappachabutra, Vattetpally, Bhavaninagar, Kalapather, Yakutpura, Tadban, and Kishanbagh.
Long queues are seen at the ATM wherever by luck one finds cash in the dispenser, otherwise, people are going merry-go-round in search of the ATM. Sunday being a holiday for banks, people especially the salaried class, who are paid on the month-end day, faced the heat as they were unable to withdraw money.
The cash agencies, as a practice, replenish a fixed amount of cash in the ATM dispensers; however, considering the huge volume of the public, the cash was withdrawn within a few hours.
In fact, during the last days of the Ramzan month, the people shop around at small traders for vermicelli, nuts, Mehandi cones, vegetables, and meat. “At small trader establishments we are facing problems, they don’t have Point of Sale (PoS) machines nor ready to accept e-payments like G pay or Phonepay for fear of e-frauds,” said Mohd Shakeel, a resident of Jahanuma.
Mohd Shakeel, an advocate from Moghalpura said for small purchases of Rs 100 or Rs 200 people need cash, and wherever ATMs are dispensing Rs. 2,000 0r Rs. 500 currency notes. “It is a major problem because for change we need to run around again,” he pointed out.
People request the supervisory authorities to replenish the cash at the earliest to avoid inconvenience to the public.
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