Discarded Rs. 1,000 notes retrieved from garbage dump in Pune

As cities witnessed serpentine queues outside banks for exchanging Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denomination notes, a bizarre incident occurred in Pune on Thursday. Police said a woman sweeper recovered a total of Rs. 52,000 (Rs. 1,000 notes numbering 52) dumped in a garbage pile near a police station in the city’s Deccan area. “The notes were given to us by a sweeper, Shantabai Owhal, and a municipal worker Khandu Kasbe. All 52 [notes] are genuine notes,” said an inspector. Police continued to be deployed at petrol pumps as hundreds of vehicles queued to buy fuel for the value of old notes. Pune District Collector Saurabh Rao had asked citizens to buy fuel to exact amounts of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000.