The common man has to bear the brunt of Modi government’s unplanned note ban drive says Sharad Pawar.
NCP President Sharad Pawar has criticised the manner in which Prime Minister Narendra Modi had gone ahead with the demonetisation campaign which is causing huge inconvenience to the common man. Pawar himself visited a bank in Baramati, Pune and interacted with people who were standing in queue to deposit or withdraw their hard earned money. He said that the common man has to bear the brunt of Modi government’s unplanned note ban drive. Pawar met bank officials to take stock of the situation and urged them to address the grievance of customers who are finding it difficult to withdraw their own money from bank. Pawar himself had faced problems to withdraw Rs 25,000 from his account. He had sent a demand draft to bank based near Parliament in New Delhi but bank officials allowed him to withdraw only Rs 10,000.
Taking a jibe at the Modi government’s note ban issue Pawar said, “Even though doctor had conducted the operation he failed to take care of the patient which may prove fatal. Our party supports the demonetisation drive but many political parties are opposing it. The government had taken the right decision but it failed to do its homework properly which is causing economic instability.”
“The nation is not yet ready for cash less economy and lot of work needs to be done before that”, said Pawar.
He said, “The Modi government has urged citizens to move towards cashless method of payment. However, 55 per cent of transactions still continue to be done through cash in an advanced economy like US and in India 92 per cent transactions are cash based.. Debit cards are widely used for buying movie tickets and for shopping at malls but people residing in rural areas are unaware about card payments. First the government will have to educate people living in villages about how to use debit cards.”
“The RBI has kept cooperative banks out of the demonetisation process and didn’t allow them to exchange old currency. As a result of this, the rural economy has come to a standstill. Farmers are unable to withdraw money for purchasing seeds due to shortage of money. District cooperative banks require Rs 45 crores daily but they are receiving only Rs 50 lakhs,” he added.
Pawar lauded the centre’s decision to impose a cap on withdrawing money from Jan Dhan Yojana accounts but liquidity crisis persists in the economy. He said, “The number of trips made by trucks transporting foodgrains has reduced to 50 per cent. Transporters are unable to pay money to truck drivers as most of the transactions are being done in cash. Initially people had supported the demonetisation campaign in the interest of the nation but now their opinion has changed due to the hardships faced by them on account of currency shortage. The government must address this issue at the earliest.”
