Demonetisation: Heavy rush of vehicles at petrol pumps to use old currency as deadline ends

Chandigarh: With the deadline for using old Rs 500 notes at petrol pumps expiring on Friday, people made a frantic effort to go for last-minute refill even as bank customers continued to face hardships in withdrawing money.

There is a heavy rush of vehicles, including cars and two wheelers, at fuel stations here, with many waiting in long queues for their turn. In some instances, the queue of vehicles was a kilometer long to buy fuel, officials said.The government has brought forward the deadline of using the old Rs 500 notes at petrol pumps and for buying airline tickets at airports till 2 December instead of 15 December announced earlier. Meanwhile, bank branches continued to struggle with cash shortage in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh today, further compounding woes of people.The queues still remain long outside branches and ATMs for cash withdrawal even as customers braving cold weather kept waiting for hours and could be seen arguing with bank staff for not giving cash as per their requirements.Many ATMs in Punjab, Haryana and Chandigarh ran out of cash while the bank branches went dry fast. At a PNB branch in Moga district of Punjab, infuriated customers vandalised property, official said."We are trying to persuade customers about problems the banks are facing and most of customers are cooperating with the bank staff, said PNB General Manager Ashok Gupta. Stating that heavy rush of people is being witnessed at bank branches, Gupta said the bank had received even  less than half of the total requirement of cash."But RBI, after the demonetisation move, is making available new currency notes and we are expecting the situation will ease in coming days," said Gupta adding that the bank is monitoring the situation regularly.