British tourists unable to use ATMs, stranded in city without money

Speaking to DT Next, the 25-year-old Liam Ball, working as a probation officer at Nottingham, UK said, “My three friends and I were left shocked by the fact that no ATM in the city had money and those which had some cash had huge crowds waiting in line to retrieve cash.” 

Ball and his three friends, Noah, Jessica and Saf, all from the UK, left their country about six weeks ago on an international tour and landed in Chennai from Cambodia on Wednesday night. 

It was then that their troubles started. “We had heard about the money issues due to demonetisation when we were in Cambodia, but we only realised the seriousness of the situation after landing here,” he said. “When in Cambodia we had hoped to draw money from ATMs in India, but only after arrival did we realise that finding an ATM with money is a herculean task in the city.”  

On Thursday morning, when they approached a nationalised bank, they were advised to approach RBI Zonal office in Chennai for their needs as they were foreigners. When they arrived at the RBI, they were nonplussed by the huge queue waiting to exchange currency.

“Though we have money in our accounts, our inability to withdraw cash had badly affected our plans. “We plan to go to Goa, but without cash we feel it will be impossible” Liam said. When asked if they had approached the British High Commission, Liam said, “We did approach, but we were asked to state our requirements through the website.” 

The demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes was a step taken by the Government of India on 8 November,  ceasing the usage of all said denomination banknotes as a form of legal tender in India from 9 November 2016. 

The announcement was made by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an unscheduled live televised address to the nation at 8 pm on Nov 8. During the announcement, Modi declared circulation of all Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi Series as invalid and announced the issuance of new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 banknotes of the Mahatma Gandhi New Series in exchange for the old banknotes.