Public from various sections have appreciated the decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi making Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes illegal from Tuesday midnight, stating that it would be helpful for development and arresting black money.
“For those who need to change notes to the tune of Rs. 5000 or Rs. 10,000 may not face any problems as it was a small tender. It will be difficult in the case of unspent huge bundles of money stored at secret places by bigwigs and anti- social elements and they could not change those notes and banks. This will increase the purchasing power of common man,” said Rukma Reddy of Sangareddy town.
“This is a bold decision by Mr. Modi keeping his election promise. Banning these notes will arrest pumping fake currency by terrorists into the country. Black money can be curbed. Those who want to exchange huge sums have to declare the source of income. I wholeheartedly welcome this decision,” said M.S. Chandra, Director, CARPED, an NGO.
: All sections of society welcomed Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision. Hailing the Centre, Karimnagar consumer council leader N Srinivas said the Centre should have done it long back. “Anyway, it is better late than never”, he quipped.
Lok Satta district general secretary Prakash Holla welcoming the decision said that all the developed countries like the USA, the UK and the European Union had already banned high denomination notes and they use only use currency of less than 100 denominations.
Government school headmistress G Pramoda while welcoming the decision suggested that the government should encourage people to use credit and debit cards for their daily transactions. A small-time trader Srinivas expressed the fear whether the existing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes drawn through ATMs would be valid for at least a month or two.
A bank officer said he was waiting for orders from senior officers to replace all the high denominations in ATMs with Rs 100 notes. He said the replacement of high denominations in ATMs would increase the work-load on the bank as the customers would be forced to visit the bank personally to collect the huge cash.
The initial disbelief gave way to shock as it dawned upon common people in Adilabad that the Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 currency notes in their pockets will be invalid within a few hours. Most of those who came to know about the Union Government’s decision to declare the currency notes in question as invalid were apprehensive about what will happen on the morrow.
Payments to farmers
“We need to make payments to farmers who have sold cotton during the last two days. How will we do it without cash in our hands,” wondered a cotton commission agent, not wanting to be named, whose transactions are done in cash as they are comparatively smaller in quantum.
“I went to the petrol bunk only to be told by the attendant that I will have to wait for some time before some clarity on the legality of the tender is got,” said Narahari Raghav, a worker in a cloth shop at Ambedkar Chowk in the town.
“I came away instead of waiting,” he added.
In the market, it was observed that cashiers at liquor vends and bars made frantic calls to their owners seeking clarity on acceptance of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes. The liquor shops are among the retail outlets where the highest transaction of these notes takes place.
“I need to travel to Hyderabad in the morning and am not sure now whether I should travel,” said a confused Shairwar Prakash, a well known architect in town. “I do not have enough cash in the denomination of Rs. 100 which could pose serious problems for me,” he added.
Countries like the USA, the UK and the European Union had already banned high denomination notes
