Telangana IT and Industries Minister K T Rama Rao today said the cash shortage in ATMs in the state was not sudden and there were complaints for over three months as he asked the Centre not to "brush away" the issue.
"Sir, with due respect, the cash shortage in Banks & ATMs is neither sudden nor temporary. I?ve been hearing complaints for over 3 months repeatedly in Hyderabad," he said.
Rao, son of Chief Minister K Chandrashekar Rao, stated this while replying to a tweet on the matter by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley earlier in the day.
"Have reviewed the currency situation in the country. Overall there is more than adequate currency in circulation and also available with the Banks. The temporary shortage caused by ?sudden and unusual increase? in some areas is being tackled quickly,? he tweeted.
In his tweet, Rao said: "Pls have RBI & Fin Min team dig deeper & not brush away an issue that is eroding people?s confidence in banking system.?
AIMIM chief and Hyderabad MP Asaduddin Owaisi expressed anguish over the cash crunch situation in the state.
Talking to reporters here, Owaisi claimed that he had been highlighting the situation for the past 15 days.
Meanwhile, a senior official of State Bank of India here said the currency situation in the state would become normal by the end of this month as the RBI is expected to supply additional cash shortly.
SBI Hyderabad Circle Chief General Manager J Swaminathan said unnecessary or panic withdrawals coupled with 50 per cent drop in deposits by retailers and other businesses led to the currency crunch in Telangana.
He said?as a State Level Bankers? Committee, SBI has set up a ?currency management committee? to chalk out the plan to overcome the situation.
The official said they were expecting cash supply from the RBI in two tranches with the first one likely in a couple of days.
"Another round will come after some days. So we expect the overall cash situation to come to normal by the end of this month,? Swaminathan told PTI.
Telangana has a total of 8,500 ATMs of various banks across the state, he added.
(This story has not been edited by Business Standard staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)