Cash crunch in ATMs: ‘Jaitley is clueless, citizens are penniless’

On Tuesday, when reports stated that several parts of the country has been hit by a cash crunch.

By Oneindia Staff

| Updated: Wednesday, April 18, 2018, 9:40 [IST]

New Delhi, April 18: Trust us, if anything goes wrong in the country, which unfortunately is happening on a daily basis, don't seek answers from the government and it is also futile to pray to god. Just check Twitter to get a holistic sense of the situation at hand and of course, the humour and sarcasm added to even a "tragic" incident on the micro-blogging site will help you keep your chin up.

On Tuesday, when reports stated that several parts of the country have been hit by a cash crunch and the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led government at the Centre was not giving any reason and solution for it, Twitter tried its best to calm frayed nerves.

While West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee called the cash crunch in ATMs reminiscent of demonetisation days, hassled people from Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru to Jaipur ran from pillar to post to get hold of some money.

However, Union finance minister Arun Jaitley said there was "more than adequate" currency in circulation and the temporary shortage in certain states was being "tackled quickly". "Overall, there is more than the adequate currency in circulation and also available with banks. The temporary shortage caused by the 'sudden and unusual increase' (in demand) in some areas is being tackled quickly," he assured.

The finance minister's assurance did not help much as fear of living without cash in the coming days badly haunted people. In the entire situation, the most troubling part for everyone was that the government did not give any specific reason for the sudden drying up of ATMs.

Thus, speculations were being made. While some cited that harvest season always increases cash demand, others suspected it could be because of the upcoming Karnataka Assembly elections, scheduled on May 12.

The cash crunch in ATMs in states like Madhya Pradesh started more than a week ago, as per reports. The trouble began after high denomination Rs 2,000 notes went missing from the market all of a sudden, stated a financial expert. He added that the government should have anticipated the problem to resolve it before it went out of hands.

As we have said earlier the best place to seek an answer to cash crunch problem is Twitter. Here we look at some tweets that are high on facts and others simply hilarious:

#CashCrunch

ATMs are Cashless
Jaitley is Clueless
RBI is Careless
Modi is Speechless
Bhakths are Brainless
Citizens are Penniless@KilaFateh @NamoronBhakt @KPadmaRani1 @beindiya @RaykaParul @UmangSharmaINC @seemaadhikari @ScamBusterIN @Harmony222S @The_veenaD @ArkalgudRamesh
— Srinivas (@SrinivasSri2017) April 17, 2018

Rt if you miss Raghuram Rajan yet as #CashCrunch spreads, the RBI is monumentally incompetent & no one is minding the economy!
— Swati Chaturvedi (@bainjal) April 17, 2018

ATMs around the country have gone dry & people are facing yet another cash crunch. Are we seeing the further side-effects of demonetisation again? Or is this a deliberate move by the Modi Govt? #CashCrunch pic.twitter.com/qNwLPjzjP2
— Dr. Manmohan Singh (@_ManmohanSingh) April 17, 2018

#CashCrunch is part of the many after-effects of the monumental disaster called #Demonetisation.

People lost lives, businesses shut down, the economy tanked, and now Modi sarkar continues to deny the people their money. #CashlessATMs
— Rajeev Gowda (@rajeevgowda) April 18, 2018