The Queues are on, the ATMs are Not - But is Aam Aadmi Upset?

New Delhi: The Centre's assurance that ATMs across the country would start working by November 10 midnight clearly hasn't materialised on the ground.

As people in Delhi ventured forth on Friday morning to withdraw the permissible 2000 on their debit cards, they were met with disappointment as one ATM machine after another declined their requests.

Some ATMs had their shutters down and some just added to the existing confusion.

Others had error messages stuck on them.

BJP President Amit Shah apologised to the aam aadmi for the inconvenience caused, asking them to bear with it as it would only be a matter of a week to ten days.

On the ground, not everyone is convinced.

Vineet Rawat is a software engineer buying an apartment in Noida. "I need to pay 20,000 rupees for my flat's registry. I have to come to the bank and stand in such long queues for five days just to withdraw that amount. My son's mundan (a religious ceremony) is also coming up and there isn't enough cash for the expenses involved. The government should have planned the logistics of this move better."

And it gets worse.

28-year-old Jagdish Nath's sister is getting married on the 23rd of this month. But the government's announcement to scrap 500 and 1000 rupee notes has put the Naths in a fix.

"No caterer is willing to finalise a booking unless an advance of up to 50,000 rupees is paid in cash and that too in the new currency only. How is it even possible for us to withdraw that kind of money with the current restrictions in place? Imagine all the expenses, we have to pay 1.8 lakh to the marriage hall and with all payments on hold, most of the work too is being held up."

39-year-old Rakesh Kumar's cousin is getting married. "Our caterer is now asking us to cough up an additional 1.3 lakh rupees above the 6 lakhs we were already supposed to pay him. He says he'll have to pay taxes now but he's putting the brunt of those taxes on us. As if there isn't enough of a hassle already."

Those going for a holiday are just as worried. 35-year-old Shatarupa Chaudhuri has been spending half her day in bank queues. "Yesterday, my husband and I stood in the line for four hours to withdraw 4,000 each. We're back in the line today as we're leaving for Goa tomorrow for a five day trip and we'll desperately need the cash."

But the public sentiment is palpably still in favour of the crackdown on those with crores of black money stashed in their homes and offices.

27-year-old Rejith Kumar explains, "I have been waiting for hours on end but I agree the move is a good one and will hit the corrupt where it hurts. My only grievance is that the government should have thought about how this will affect those in emergencies and planned measures to address their concerns."