Fifty five-year-old farmer and cattle trader Paneerselvam travelled from Tiruvannamalai to Vellore with the hope of selling two of his bulls at the weekly cattle shandy at Poigai on Tuesday. But much to his disappointment, he had to return with the two animals after a long wait as most customers had only demonetised notes.
“Many persons, who wanted to purchase the bulls, offered me Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes. These notes have been banned. I refused to accept the notes out of fear that I would not be able to exchange them,” he said.
Traders like Paneerselvam, who said he had to spend Rs. 6,000 on transporting cattle to Vellore and back to his home at Thanjampadi in Chetpet taluk, suffered the same fate.
It had its effect on the weekly cattle shandy at Poigai too. A resident of Poigai village, T. Loganathan, one of the persons who runs the shandy which is over a century old, said, “Cattle trading has reduced by at least 25 per cent after the two notes were withdrawn. Business has gone down as people are bringing the old notes for transactions,” he said.
He said some cattle traders accepted the old notes. At least 1,250 to 1,500 head of cattle are brought to the shandy every Tuesday. Cattle from various parts of the district such as Tirupattur, neighbouring district of Salem, parts of Tiruvannamalai like Arni and Cheyyar and from Chittoor are brought here for sale.
“The number of cattle being brought is on the decline as farmers have switched to the 100-day work scheme,” he said.
No customers
Paneerselvam said, “The two bulls cost Rs. 85,000. I was prepared to reduce the price by Rs. 2,000. But some traders asked me to reduce the amount by Rs. 10,000. They said they did not have new notes. So, I did not get any customers,” he said.
Paneerselvam is not new to the shandy and has sold cattle for even Rs. 1 lakh to two lakh. “This is nearly the first time in many years that I had to return home without selling the bulls,” he added.
