Saturday evenings would mean returning home after work with money, buying a few snacks on the way, and also the vegetables and grocery for the weekend for the workers employed at the micro, small-scale industries or construction sites in the city.
However, it was not so for thousands of them this Saturday. “I have a Rs. 2,000 note. What will I do with it,” asked one of the workers, who had received his monthly wages.
About 70 per cent of micro units in Coimbatore give weekly wages, to at least some of the workers at each industry. If there are 10 workers, seven of them would get weekly wages. An industry needs a minimum of Rs. 21,000 only for the wages for these workers apart from the cash needed to pay those who do small job works. “We need Rs. 35,000 to Rs. 40,000 a week in cash,” says S. Ravi Kumar, president of Coimbatore and Tirupur District Micro and Cottage Entrepreneurs’ Association.
“Since the withdrawal limit for a week is just Rs. 20,000, we distributed this money among the workers. It is cash-and-carry business at the market where we buy the second hand tools and parts. What will we do to buy tools, oil, etc.,” asks J. James, president of Tamil Nadu Association for Cottage and Tiny Enterprises.
So, while the micro and small-scale industries paid the workers whatever money they had, most of the construction workers in the district received advance amount instead of weekly wages. About 50 per cent of workers in the construction sector here are from other States or districts. These workers do not have a bank account here.
At a meeting of Coimbatore District construction and unorganised workers federation the union leaders pointed out that the workers do not have cash even for their daily transport to the work place. Though Saturday is the wage payment day, most of the employers were not able to pay even one tenth of the wages to all the workers. Those who have Rs. 500 or Rs. 1,000 have to lose their daily wage to go to the bank for exchange of the cash they have. Hence, the Government should allow the workers to travel in buses without buying a ticket and banks should be kept open 24 hours a day for the workers to visit the branches after work.
Meanwhile, banks and post offices saw a rush on Saturday too and most of the ATMs were not operational. Even some bank branches were unable to accept the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 denomination currencies on Saturday afternoon as they did not have enough cash for disbursal.
K. Kathirmathiyon, secretary of Coimbatore Consumer Cause, said the public could use the cash deposit machines for deposit of cash directly. The banks were accepting Rs. 500 denomination notes that were issued before 2005 too for exchange, he said.
