With cash crunch in ATMs and banks reported from several parts of the country opposition on Tuesday slammed the government saying the “terror of note ban” has returned to haunt the people and dubbed the situation as a “financial emergency”.

Currency shortage was reported from parts of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and poll-bound Karnataka among other states. Several ATMs in the national capital also saw long queues and soon ran out of cash.

In his Lok Sabha constituency Amethi, Congress president Rahul Gandhi said the “terror of note-ban” has again gripped the country and accused Prime Minister Modi of destroying the banking system with his demonetisation decision.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee tweeted, “Seeing reports of ATMs running out of cash in several states. Big notes missing. Reminder of Demonetisation days. Is there a Financial Emergency going on in the country?”

Referring to the government’s November 2016 demonetisation decision to withdraw Rs 500/1000 notes and subsequently introduce new Rs 2,000 notes CPI (M) leader Sitaram Yechury said the country is still paying the price of

a sudden midnight firman of demonetisation”. “ATMs were empty in November 2016. ATMs are empty now. And the only party flush with cash is the BJP: People suffer,” he tweeted.

On the back foot, the government attributed the cash shortage to an unusual spurt in demand in last three months, and Finance minister Arun Jaitley said the “temporary shortage” in certain states is being “tackled quickly” and that there is “more than adequate” currency in circulation.

Minister of State for Finance Shiv Pratap Shukla said the government has formed state-wise committees and the issue would be resolved in next 2-3 days. Besides, the RBI has also formed a committee to transfer currency from cash-surplus states to the others, he said.

However, former Finance minister P Chidambaram asked, “If the RBI has injected sufficient cash, it is obliged to tell the people why there is a cash shortage. As a rule, cash supply must grow at the same rate as the economy is growing. The cash shortage may be because cash supply has been arbitrarily reduced.”