Mysuru: Election fever appears to have gripped the Heritage City even before the election commission’s official announcement of dates. With the Rs 2000 denomination notes already scarce in city banks, the woes are getting further compounded with ATMs also going dry by noon.

The startling facts came to the fore during a pre-election meeting convened by the Superintendent of Police Ravi D Chennanavar with bank officials to tighten measures for the ensuing assembly elections. When SP raised the issue of security measures to be employed by the bank officials, one of them explained the ground situation threadbare and took all the gathered by surprise. “The inflow of Rs 2000 notes has declined considerably during the last 3 months and even RBI currency supply to ATMs in the city has dropped by over 60 percent from Rs 40 Lakh to Rs 15 Lakh a day”, he stated.

Unhappy with the trend, people are complaining to the lead bank but the situation is unlikely to improve in the near future, ascertained K S Shivalingaiah, a lead bank manager participating in the meeting. There are 13 currency chests in the city and the daily cash requirement is Rs 15 Crore but during the last 15 days, RBI currency supply has dwindled, he explained.

“RBI has been apprised of the prevailing scenario”, he said and added that the customers approaching banks with Rs 2 Lakh cash requirement end up waiting for 4 working days to collect cash, exposing the severe cash crunch that exists.

Proactive SP Chennanavar went one step ahead and asked his force to set-up check posts to prevent election related malpractices. People carrying cash must desist from producing documents after police seize currency and valuables, he said. People carrying cash must possess valid documents failing which criminal cases will be registered against them, SP cautioned. Check points at district borders will come up by February 20 and the authorities will keep a hawk eye on the movement of vehicles, SP said.