First cyclone, now cash crunch chokes Chennai

Cyclone 'Vardah' has hit the currency supply to banks and ATMs in Chennai, aggravating the post-demonetisation woes of people already reeling under a severe cash crunch.

While several banks and ATMs are providing cash far below the allowed limit every now and then due to cash shortage, the damage caused by the cyclone has dealt a further blow with movement of cash vehicles coming to a grinding halt, resulting in empty ATMs.

Also, ATMs could not be used to access other services like cheques or cash deposit as electricity supply is yet to be restored in several localities due to fallen trees, snapping power cables.

As the Centre announced the ban on Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes last month under its demonetisation move, people had to stand in long queues to deposit or withdraw cash from banks.

Adding to those problems, 'Vardah' forced many banks to suspend operations, while ATMs have already gone dry.

Even if banks had cash, personnel transporting them to the ATMs were unable to proceed as several trees were uprooted, virtually halting traffic movement, officials said.

Besides, since Tuesday was a holiday on account of Milad-un-Nabi, most ATMs had went out of cash while banks remain closed, causing great hardships to people.

A hotel employee said people have been coming and making payments through debit and credit cards, but due to increase in usage of card payments, there has been a surge in traffic.

"So some transactions passed successfully, but some could not. We asked them to pay in cash," he said.

Srivatsan, a private sector employee, said, "we were managing expenses by taking cash from banks. But now after the cyclone, we are unable to go out as roads have been cut off and there is also no power supply".

"Even if we manage to go to some shops, we are unable to make any purchase as card payments were also affected. As today is a holiday, we are at home. We can go to banks or ATMs to withdraw cash only tomorrow," he said.

The Tamil Nadu government has expedited relief measures in the worst affected areas across Chennai and the neighbouring districts following the impact caused by the cyclone.

According to Chief Minister O Panneerselvam as many as 4,000 trees have been uprooted due to heavy winds and nearly 6,000 employees are working to remove them.

Power supply was partially restored across Chennai on Tuesday as employees of the state-run TANGEDCO have been working on fixing snapped power lines since Monday night.

Photograph: Stephen Surendran/Twitter