Mangaluru: With the central government declaring Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes as invalid from Tuesday midnight onwards, the Port city of Mangaluru woke up to a dull Wednesday morning. Some of the bustling spots of the city wore deserted look as people did not have Rs 100 denomination notes in adequate quantity.
Several commercial establishments had put up an instruction stating ‘tender Rs 100 denomination notes only’. With banks being closed for two days- on Wednesday and Thursday, people were seen having tough time in the city as most of them had Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination notes with them.
Shutters of several ATMs too remained closed in the city further pushing people into greater inconvenience.
Iconic Central theatre and Ideal ice-cream parlour, places that never run out of crowd saw very few visitors on Tuesday owing to the Central government’s move.
As per sources, the city witnessed a gold rush on Tuesday evening as people fanatically thronged gold showrooms to purchase gold using the currency notes that were about to go invalid from mid night. The gold shops had an overwhelming brisk business late in the night, say witnesses.
Common man in trouble
With the denominations of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 going invalid, the general public since Wednesday had to face a lot of hardships.
Motorists had to return empty handed as the fuel stations were accepting only Rs 500 or Rs 1000 and filling the tanks of vehicles. The staff at petrol pumps would ask owners of two-wheelers if they had denominations of Rs 100 or less than Rs 500 and then proceed to fill their fuel tanks.
Long queues were seen at various medical stores. Quite a few buses were not plying due to non-availability of smaller amount of currency.
Surprisingly, shops which never accepted cheques, were accepting them!
It may be recalled that Prime Minister Narendra Modi made an emergency announcement on Wednesday calling back Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination notes in a bid to crack down corruption and black money in the country.
