SALEM: About 60% of ATMs in Salem region, including Namakkal, Dharmapuri and Krishnagiri districts, did not function for the seventh day on Tuesday. Thousands of people were put on untold hardships to exchange and withdraw money."I went around the city to withdraw cash from ATMs. But I found most of the ATMs out of service," said V Yuvaraj, a photo studio owner. He said he was standing in a queue in front of a nationalized bank for more than two hours. "Suddenly, the bank officials announced that they did not have sufficient money to issue notes for the entire queue," he said.Many customers alleged that the banks were issuing currency notes only to minimum customers. "Many of the banks have been issuing Rs 4,000 (for changing old currencies) and Rs 10,000 (cheque holders) only for three hours during its operational hours," said K Manikandan, a HDFC bank customer.Only a few banks in the region filled their ATMS with Rs 100 notes. But those machines went dry within minutes as hundreds of customers thronged when they get alert from other people. The banks replenished ATMs with currencies only once in a day.In post offices too, the situation was same. Many post offices, except district head post office in Salem, allowed only people who came to deposit their old currencies. "At the same time, many post offices did not exchange notes," N Sivaraman from Dharmapuri.Sales in grocery shops, markets were badly affected in the region. The daily shandies in the region lost 70% of sales since November 9, a day after demonetization announcement."Our Diwali sales had crossed Rs 60 lakh and we will cross at least Rs 20 lakh during normal days. But, since last Wednesday, our one week sales did not touch Rs 20 lakh as many people have been trying to change only old notes and the farmers were not ready to accept them," said an official from agricultural department.The farmers urged the Central government to take steps to issue new notes and lower denominations to get their normal business at the earliest.

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