Two deaths as banks, ATMs run out of cash

Our Bureau

Two men, aged 72 and 80, died on Friday while standing in bank queues at Habra in North 24-Parganas and Raidighi in South 24-Parganas. Rabin Mukherjee, 72, who was waiting outside a SBI branch in Machhlandapur, Habra, since morning, complained of uneasiness around noon, police said. He sat down and within moments started breathing heavily. He was taken to a nearby hospital. But he passed away before doctors could do anything, an officer of Habra police station said. Around 2.30pm, some people of the area blocked the tracks leading to Machhlandapur station while another group blocked the road leading to Habra to protest Mukherjee's death. Viswadeb Naskar, 80, collapsed while standing in a queue outside a United Bank of India branch in Raidighi in the afternoon. Some witnesses said Naskar started trembling before he collapsed. He was declared dead at Raidighi hospital. Metro travelled across the city to find that most banks and ATMs had run out of cash within hours of starting the day's operations. HDFC Bank, Golpark Sanjay Ghosh, 53, needed Rs 24,000. This is the second consecutive day that I had to return empty-handed, he said. "Mr Modi should stand in the queue to understand what we are going through." Axis Bank, Gariahat Many in the queue kept cursing under their breath as the queue barely moved around 2pm. Sukalyan Ghorui of Elgin Road said the queue hadn't moved since 12.30pm. "I need to withdraw Rs 16,000." When he stepped inside the bank around 3.30pm, he was told that he would get only Rs 2,000. But Lady Luck smiled on him as a customer deposited Rs 2 lakh. Mission accomplished, he stepped out of the bank at 6pm. SBI, Jadavpur University Getting Rs 24,000 wasn't an issue here. But the bank had placed a bar of Rs 5,000 for those with SBI accounts elsewhere. Sector V ATMs ran out of cash by afternoon. The kiosks had either downed shutters or had notices saying no cash.