30 days of suffering, and counting

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 8

It was this day last month that Prime Minister Narendra Modi dropped the bombshell of demonetising currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination.

The government may gloat over its decision ostensibly taken to suck out black money but the ground reality remains that people are suffering and the hardest hit are those who are at the bottom rung of the economic ladder.

Many a worker has lost jobs, families have gone without food for days, hundreds and thousands of man hours are being lost standing in queues outside banks and ATMs everyday and traders, both big and small, are ruing the fact that their sales are down by 40 to 50 per cent.

Rubbing salt on their wounds, banks are refusing to allow them to draw money even up to the ceiling announced by the Central Government. They may not be at fault for the RBI is not able to supply them their requirement of currency but again the harsh reality remains that people cannot lay hands on their hard-earned money they had parked in banks to meet their day-to-day needs.

This sums up the sentiment in the tricity one month after the demonetisation announcement made by the Prime Minister.

Another major reason behind the public hardship is the Rs 2,000 note, which cannot be used to buy milk, bread, fruits, vegetables or other daily needs.

A majority of the vendors and traders refuse to accept the Rs 2,000 note for any purchases below Rs 500 for want of currency notes of smaller denomination.

“One month was enough to wipe out the shortage of lower denomination notes in the market but the government has failed miserably,” said an irate Roshan Lal, a retail fruit and vegetable trader in Sector 26.

A tea seller in Sector 17, Suresh Kumar, said, “People have stopped having tea and snacks despite winter setting in. Nobody wants to shell out whatever cash he has even after a month.”

“Even as the UT Administration is pressing hard for a cashless economy, people have not been so enthusiastic to pay by cards, mobile apps or other e-modes. In the absence of ample smaller denomination currency, we have to daily turn away many customers, who come with a Rs 2,000 note for paying bills ranging between Rs 100 and Rs 500,” said Gurpal Singh, a dhaba owner in Sector 34.

A housewife from Panchkula, Rupali Tyagi, who sounded frustrated, said, “Modi had sought 50 days, and now 30 days have passed but the sad part is there has been no significant improvement in the circulation of money.”

With serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs refusing to thin out, people have been rendered cashless and are finding it extremely difficult to meet their daily expenses, leave aside making any purchases.

A visit to different parts of the tricity this morning revealed that people were still queued up outside banks and ATMs to meet their cash requirements.

Upset about banks refusing payments due to the cash crunch, an NRI from the USA, Krishan Lal Aggarwal, said, “For the past four days, I have been returning empty-handed from the Central Bank branch in Sector 22, which runs out of cash each time my turn comes after waiting for over an hour everyday”.

“We even stand in long queues outside banks and ATMs where there is no cash hoping that cash may arrive,” rued a student, Amanjot, who was also queued up outside a bank branch in Sector 17.

A senior bank officer, who did not wished to be named, said, “Our blood has been sucked by the note ban as we are the ones who are facing the anger and frustration of people everyday despite working overtime for the past 30 days.”

An NRI, Aravindakshan, who landed here on Tuesday, said a forex dealer at the airport exchanged his $200 at the rate of Rs 61 per USD against the market rate of over Rs 67. “This shows how forex dealers are also making hay while ‘demonetisation blues shine’,” he rued. 

Rs 500 note prized possession

“It’s been 30 days now, but I haven’t yet seen the new Rs 500 note,” said Aradhika, who was able to withdraw Rs 10,000 on Thursday. She is one of the many who are still vying to lay their hands on the new Rs 500 notes. SBoP DGM Fanish Gupta said due to scarcity, several bank branches were yet to get the new Rs 500 notes. “We have been assured extra new currency on Friday,” he added.