Another person dies while standing in bank queue

HT Correspondent & IANS letters,31 December 2016, KOLKATA: A 45-year-old man died and another senior citizen fell ill while waiting in queues for several hours outside banks in Howrah and South Dinajpur on Saturday. They had gone to withdraw money.

Locals said Sanat Bag, a resident of Uluberia in Howrah, had gone to a rural bank on Saturday to withdraw money. Bag had been working at his farm since early morning. When Bag reached the bank around 9 am he was standing behind at least 70 people.

“The bank was closed for several days and had reopened only on Saturday. There was a long queue. Bag suddenly fell on the ground and collapsed. He was taken to a local hospital where he was declared dead,” said Soumen Das, a local.

In another incident, an octogenarian lady fell ill while waiting in the queue of a nationalised bank at Balurghat in South Dinajpur. She was admitted to a hospital. Locals said that she was standing in the queue for more than four hours.

This is, however, not the first time that people have died or fallen ill while waiting in queues outside banks.

Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Saturday targeted the Union government over the restrictions on cash withdrawals and blamed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for alleged 112 deaths following demonetisation.

“Modi Babu, public are not beggars of your government. Why are there still restrictions on cash withdrawal ? Fifty days are now over. How can you take away the rights of citizens to withdraw their own hard-earned money,” she tweeted.

Modi announced demonetisation of high value currency notes on November 8, and subsequently sought 50 days to put things in order.

“Governments may come into power but they just cannot snatch people’s economic rights,” she said.

The Trinamool Congress supremo slammed Modi for his “arrogance.”

“Modi babu, you are totally arrogant. You are responsible for 112 deaths,” she added.