It has been over 30 days since the high-value currency notes were banned by PM Modi, but the cash problem is showing no signs of ending anytime soon.

Banks in Agra are still being swamped by customers seeking to withdraw cash as early as 6 am in the morning, but when the bank officials announced 'no cash' as soon as the bank opened, the pain of queuing up in the bitter cold out on the road burst out and clashes between bank employees and customers were witnessed.

The police have managed to control the anger of the people so far, but the situation is growing increasingly tense as the weather turns colder. Agra registered a temperature of almost 9 degrees Celsius on Thursday night and the morning was enveloped in dense fog, but the long queues at the banks were still present.

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The bitter weather took its toll on two 'Divyang' locals, who died after lining up at the bank for cash. Durjipura village (Fatehabad) resident, Kaptaan Singh (52) and Kaboolpur village resident, Jamunadas (35) fell ill while they were in the bank queue, but by the time they returned home, they had passed away.

Durjipura village residents told India Today that Kaptaan Singh had an account in the Paintikhera branch of Canara Bank. He was trying to withdraw cash from the branch since several days for his treatment, but couldn't get it. Today, his condition deteriorated while still in the queue. Some of his acquaintances took him home but before treatment could start, Kaptaan Singh lost his battle with death.

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Jamunadas' brother Santram told India Today that his brother had been lining up at the bank for several days for money for his treatment. He had four thousand rupees in his account and even in high fever, he was standing in the bank queue hoping to withdraw that amount for his treatment, but he didn't get the cash. When his condition deteriorated, he returned home and lay down to rest but before the doctor could arrive, his brother had died.

Senior citizen Rama Shanker Sharma said that the Prime Minister had asked for 50 days and out of those, 30 days have passed, but there is no relief in sight. There was no indication that the situation will improve even past the deadline since the RBI itself accepted that it hadn't been able to meet the currency demand and the shortage of cash will most likely continue way ahead into the next year.

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He said that PM Modi should not wait till the deadline to accept where he went wrong in his assessment of the situation, otherwise the seething anger of the people will come out on the streets and the law and order situation will become too difficult to manage for both the central as well as the state governments.

Social activist Mohd Yaseen said that several state government heads are not pleased with the central government's sweeping powers over the economy and may soon demand a revision of the central government's powers. Several regional parties are openly protesting the central government's demonetization move on the grounds of its unpreparedness and if the law and order situation goes from bad to worse in these states, it will be the Central government's responsibility.

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He said that political parties are currently busy with vote bank politics instead of ensuring that the people are least affected by the cash crunch. If all the political parties join hands to alleviate the troubles of the people, the sting of demonetisation will hurt a little less, but the political considerations of these parties are preventing them from doing so.

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