Demonetisation : Several bank branches in rural areas have zero cash

BHOPAL: Currency crisis deepens in rural areas of

Madhya Pradesh

and large number of branches of

regional rural banks

have zero cash for the past two days.

There are 74 branches of Madhyanchal regional rural bank (MRRB) in Chattarpur and Panna districts of Madhya Pradesh and more than 200 branches in all the five districts of Bunelkhand facing acute cash crisis, many of them have no cash for the past two days. Millions of villagers bank upon these

small financial institutions

for day to day cash needs.

Regional bank manager SP Niranjan

said, "There are some branches where there is no cash. Some of them do have some cash and they are giving very little amount to customers who are approaching banks for withdrawal. The villagers are being requested to cooperate in the moment of crisis." He said , "The situation started deteriorating for the past two days. In the absence of chest, the State Bank of India (SBI) supplies cash to us. But the bank branches in the district themselves are facing cash crunch." "The

SBI officials

have told us that the cash that they have would be used for their customers and for the ATMs," he said and added, " The RBI has not replenished cash to the

Chattarpur branches of SBI

." "If the cash is not delivered to us tomorrow, we will continue to face the trouble atleast till Monday evening", he said

About 500 branches of MRRB are spread across 12 districts of Damoh, Sagar ,Chattarpur, Panna, Satna ,Rewa, Sidhi Singrauli ,Guna ,Shivpuri, Tikamgarh and Ashoknagar. The management of the MRRB had discussed the "currency crisis" with the district administration last week when the SBI was supplying Rs 50 lakh or Rs 1 crore for 74 branches of the bank in Panna and Chattarpur. "We asked the SDM to solve the currency crisis", Niranjan said.

Besides, huge sum , about Rs 90 crore currency notes ,in the form of old RS 500 and RS 1000 notes have also been lying with the rural bank branches but the State Bank of India is not exchanging them. And in view of the

availability of old currency

in bank branches, security has also been beefed up by hiring more guards. The MRRB has also not been able to provide money to the villagers seeking "marriage cash". "We show them the strict

RBI circular

released recently. They require to fill up minute details. Atleast two families who had approached us have not yet returned after going through the circular", Niranjan said.