The flushing out of the Black Money by ceasing the legal tender of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 is taking its toll on the common man. Since the night The Modi Serkar has announced the news the common man is the most worried one. I had Rs 800 in my pocket that fateful night when the sudden announcement was made. I checked my wallet and found a Rs 500 note and three notes of Rs 100 each. The next day the banks and ATM machines being closed I exhausted the three Hundred rupees notes for my daily groceries of fish milk etc. On the second day I was so desperate that I had to beg my children for some change from their pocket money to buy bread because the poder and no shopkeeper would accept the Rs 500 note.
Just around noon I entered my bank to exchange the Rs 500 note, it was full of worried and tempered people standing in queue to exchange their notes or withdraw the cash. I stood in the line for one hour and abandoned the idea of exchanging my Rs 500 note. The decision of the Government has been so abrupt that the common man is suffering, working people like me have to stay for two or three hours in line to exchange your notes or to withdraw the amount.
Online cash can be spent for petrol or at big dining places but what about the others like fisherwomen, poders, bhajiwallahs, grocery shops, how do we pay them if they are not receiving the banned notes. Have we to sleep on empty stomachs for some days. Why did they have to do it in a jiffy, couldn’t they have done this exercise in a phased manner by banning one note at a time. This exercise has put a pressure on Rs 100 and other lower denominations notes which are few in circulation. Even Rs 100 note is duplicated so how do we know whether it is genuine or fake.
Today banks are become like fish markets and common man is the most confused of them all because standing in line has taken its toll plus each bank has introduced their own set of rules for disbursement and depositing of cash, some are insisting for documents even for withdrawal of their own cash and some banks are rejecting your transactions if your Account is not KYC compliant.
I have seen many tourists are on the verge of tears because they can’t exchange their notes which they had brought to spend for holidays. Hope this government gives some relief to the common man in the days to come.
