Petrol pumps in Mumbai will remain closed from Friday midnight to 7 am on Saturday. The step is being taken as an anticipatory measure to avoid any law and order trouble ispute as petrol pumps would not be able to accept the old Rs 500 and 1000 notes after midnight.
The Petrol dealers’ Association had informed the state level coordinator about the matter on Thursday. Maharashtra is reported to have around 4,500 petrol pumps out of which 250 are in Mumbai.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi had on Tuesday announced that Rs 500 and 1000 notes would be scrapped overnight but had allowed petrol pumps and hospitals to accept these notes for 72 hours till the November 11.
There have been long lines since Thursday when the banks started dispensing the new currency. The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) has assured people that there is no shortage of currency and enough is cash available for exchanging the scrapped Rs 500/1000 notes
Asking people to remain “patient”, RBI said “There is enough cash available with banks and all arrangements have been made to reach the currency notes all over the country. Bank branches have already started exchanging notes since November 10, 2016,” Reserve Bank of India said in a statement.
The central bank conceded however that it may take a while for banks to recalibrate ATMs and once that is done, “members of public will be able to withdraw from ATMs up to a maximum of Rs 2,000 per card per day up to November 18, 2016”. After that, they will be able to withdraw up to Rs 4,000 a day per card.
A 73-year-old person, Vishwanath Vartak, reportedly died in a suburb of Mumbai while standing in a queue outside an ATM to withdraw money.
