Angry people break locked gate of bank in Bihar

Patna, Nov 13  A group of angry people on Sunday broke locked gate of a bank and forcibly entered the premises in Bihar's Gopalganj district after they were told that there was no cash, the state police said.

People, angry at having to go without small denomination currency notes after demonetisation, protested and tried to ransack banks at several places across the state as they failed to get cash despite standing for hours in long queues since morning.

"People forcibly entered a Punjab National Bank's branch in Mirganj after they broke the locked gate and staged protest against failure of banks in providing cash," a district police official said.

The police have resorted to lathicharge to disperse angry crowds.

Two groups clashed at a bank in Narkatiaganj area of Champaran district after some people who were standing in long queues, fell into a drain.

Protests by people angry over cash crunch in banks were reported in Aurangabad, Patna, Gaya, Muzaffarpur, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Bhagalpur and Khagaria districts.

The fight for cash is likely to continue for a few more days as nearly five per cent ATMs in the state are not operational, officials said.