New Delhi, Mar 29: Dry run of ATMs is feared in some parts of the nation as banks would remain closed for four days, barring March 31. The cash crunch is evident in Telangana, Andhra Pradesh and parts of Uttar Pradesh. The banks are scheduled to remain closed on March 29 (Mahavir Jayanti), March 30 (Good Friday), April 1 (Sunday) and April 2 (annual closing of accounts).

Residents in Lucknow have complained against the lackadaisical attitude of the banks, failing to address the dearth of cash in the ATMs. According to an HT report, significant number of ATMs in the city are lying defunct or out of cash over the past few days. The crisis is expected to escalate from today.

Lucknow has nearly 900 ATMs, with reports claiming that nearly 50 per cent or 450 among them are non-functional.

In Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, the cash crunch was felt since the onset of 2018. An SBI official speaking to TOI said the ATMs were surviving with only 85 per cent of the required amount of cash in January and February.

However, the amount of cash in ATMs dipped to 70 per cent in March. The crisis intensified this week as people queued up to make adequate withdrawals considering the four-day closure of banks.

Out of the 2,200 SBI ATMs in Telangana, nearly 1,500 are functional. The remaining have went dry due to non-availability of cash.

In order to address the shortage of liquid currency, Telangana has shipped the cash from Maharashtra and Kerala, whereas, Andhra Pradesh is replenishing its ATMs with cash from Odisha and Tamil Nadu.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 29, 2018 03:39 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).