ATMs go dry in northeastern states
Agartala/Kohima/Itanagar, May 5: The cash drought in most of the ATMs of the northeastern states has caused a lot of inconvenience for the people in the past few days.
Senior bank officials said that the delay in supplying of remittances by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) in Guwahati caused the note crisis in most of the ATMs.
"We should put fresh notes in the ATMs to run the apparatus smoothly. Currently, the bank has old notes and we have asked the RBI in Guwahati to supply fresh notes of different denominations urgently," State Bank of India (SBI) Regional Manager Dipak Chowdhury told IANS.
He said, "We expect that the situation would be normalised by mid next week. This is a temporary phenomenon."
Reports of cash scarcities in the ATMs in Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland, Manipur, Meghalaya, and Mizoram in the first week of the month have left the public in a state of anguish.
An SBI official in Itanagar said that the bank had to make an internal arrangement of cash from rural branches to urban branches to address the cash deficit.
Dimapur SBI Assistant General Manager Debjyoti Dutta said that the short supply of notes from the RBI aggravated the situation and hardships to the people.
"RBI would be disbursing the cash for Nagaland soon and ATMs would likely be refilled immediately. However, at the bank branches, there was still cash-at-hand to manage everyday transactions," Dutta said.
A bank official in Imphal said that the shortage was also due to the "overdraw" of cash out of ATMs.
An official of the United Bank of India (UBI) said that the ongoing problem is also due to RBI's introduction of rationing system in supplying cash to commercial banks.
"The RBI has been distributing cash to commercial banks in northeast India on a pro-rata basis that means disbursal of cash in proportion of total number of bank account holders of a state and that of number of bank branches in the region," the official added.
As the bank officials publicly clarified about the cash crisis in ATMs, various rumours also forced people to rush in ATMs and banks to withdraw money.
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Modi, Kharge congratulate Harivansh on being elected as Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman
New Delhi (PTI): Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Friday congratulated Harivansh on being elected as Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman for the third time.
Harivansh, a nominated member of the House, was elected unopposed.
Congress President and Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge also congratulated Harivansh.
Speaking in the Upper House, Prime Minister Modi said that being elected for the third time in a row as the Deputy Chairman of the Rajya Sabha is, in itself, a profound expression of the trust that the House has in Harivansh.
Modi said the House has benefited greatly from Harivansh's experience in the past, and the efforts he has made to take everyone along.
"This is a tribute to his experience and an intuitive work style," the prime minister said.
Modi also said that Harivansh, who has been a journalist earlier, has held high standards of journalism. He further said that Harivansh has spent his MP LAD (local area development) funds for research projects at various universities.
The prime minister also lauded the contribution of Harivansh in instilling confidence among the younger generation in achieving the goal of a developed India.
Kharge expressed hope that the Deputy Chairman will take care of the opposition and give them adequate time in the House.
The Congress leader further said he was pained by the fact that the post of Deputy Speaker in the Lok Sabha has been vacant since 2019, which is contrary to the spirit of the Constitution.
Earlier, the Samajwadi Party and TMC staged a walkout when the motion to elect Harivansh was being adopted.
