Punjab Congress president Amarinder Singh has said that the party will move court over deaths related to demonetisation, and extended his full support to a proposed strike by industries over the issue on December 16.
“With 86 per cent of the country’s currency being pulled out the market, the Indian economy is collapsing under the weight of demonetisation. Around 100 people have died standing in queues while thousands have been suffering as a result of the cash crunch. The Punjab Congress will be moving court over these deaths,” he said in a press briefing in New Delhi.
He also extended his support to the Chamber of Industrial & Commercial Undertakings (CICU), Ludhiana, over their proposed strike against demonetisation scheduled for December 16. The impact of demonetisation on the State’s industries, already in the doldrums because of the Badal government’s antagonistic policies, he said, had been devastating.
Captain Singh said the Modi government’s “ill-planned” demonetisation move was virtually a “criminal act,” which had not only brought many lives to a tragic end but had rendered thousands of contractual employees and labourers in industries jobless.
The CICU strike call, which is part of a nationwide industries bandh call against demonetisation, is a small step in the direction of highlighting the woes of the industries, to which the Prime Minister seemed to be blind, he added.
The cash-crunched industries, which were also being harassed by the Income Tax authorities, had been hit by severe increase in raw material prices, with the currency shortage also impacting their purchasing capacity, said Captain Singh.
