VARANASI: Amid opposition charges of nationwide chaos after
demonetisation , some farm-labourers in Varanasi have hailed the move saying it will only affect the wealthy and not people like them.
"It is a good move because it affects those who have extra money. We are daily wagers so we don't face any problem," said Rekha, a farm labourer.
"People who have money, they should be worried. We don't have any extra money so it doesn't affect us," said another. We work in the fields and use whatever little money we earn, she said when asked about managing expenses.
Prime Minister
Narendra Modi had announced last week that the existing Rs 500 and Rs 1000 currency note will cease to exist as legal tender and that the government will bring new currency notes to replace the old ones. He said this move will wipe out black money from the economy and cripple terror financing. "On November 8, some people had a sound sleep while others went looking for sleeping pills," the PM said at a rally in Goa last week, exhorting people to support the government in its move to wipe out black money from the system. "I urge you to give me 50 days in my fight against black money," he said.
"I know I have taken on those who have stashed a lot of money and they will burn me alive. But they can't stop me," the PM had said.
The opposition has slammed the move, with BSP leader Mayawati calling it a "financial Emergency". Many political parties have accused the PM of being insensitive to the problems faced by people after pictures of long queues outside banks and ATMs surfaced.
The government as well as the RBI have assured people that they have
sufficient stock of new currency and that all their woes will disappear once sufficient amount of money is circulated in the economy. "It will take 2-3 weeks and I assure people that everything will be fine by then," Finance Minister
Arun Jaitley said.
People have been queuing up outside the ATMs and banks to exchange their old currency since the PM's announcement. Many of them have hailed the move to fight corruption and black money but have been disappointed by shortage of new currency notes. "This is very disappointing. I waited for such a long time and when I thought I was almost done with the task, the bank officials informed us that there was no cash available. The government should have ensured cash beforehand so people did not face any harassment," said Rahul Singh, a private firm employee in Chandigarh.
The government has announced a slew of measures to ease people's inconvenience, like increasing the time limit to exchange old currency notes,
relaxing withdrawal limit at banks and ATMs and expediting process of recalibrating the ATMs. The Centre has asked people to be patient and help the government in its endeavour.