Confusion, chaos mark day one of demonetisation
09 November, New Delhi
Long queues were seen at petrol pumps, post offices and railway stations as dazed citizens woke to the harsh reality that the high denomination notes of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 in their possession were no longer acceptable legal tender.
Confusion reigned among those sitting on piles of these currency and frantic enquiries were being made by citizens as to how to dispose of the high denomination notes that had been demonetised in a sudden move by the Narendra Modi Government from last midnight without being given adequate warning.
”The first thing we did after the announcement was to search for Rs 100 note in all possible places we would keep our money. For us, it is really as precious as gold today,” said a housewife in Delhi who was going to buy the day’s vegetable and other necessities.
The absence of these notes left unsuspecting commuters stranded, including a couple at the Lucknow Railway Station for hours due to lack of change. Reaching the city by an early morning train, they found that they had only Rs 500 notes which no taxi driver would accept.
In Chhatarpur town of Madhya Pradesh, a family faced difficulties in performing last rites of a member. According to deceased 70-year-old Rajabai’s son Kailash and niece Anuradha, the family only had 2-4 notes of Rs 100 denomination while the rest were of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination. They had a harrowing time in arranging for funeral material as shopkeepers refused to accept the notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denomination. In Kashmir, Farooq Ahmad, a resident of Badipora, was among the worried lot.
He said, ”The marriage ceremony of my daughter is taking place tomorrow and I have to make payment to a number of traders, particularly those supplying meat and other articles. Though he had already made all necessary arrangements for the marriage but still they had to make purchases for which there was no money after the ban, he said. In Imphal and many other places, markets remained by and large shut for lack of cash with buyers. Reports of the difficulties faced by people today have been received from other parts of the country, including Kolkata and Chennai.
Roshni Sharma, who works in neighbouring Noida said, “It seems all roads are leading to petrol pumps. I was running out of petrol for my car and searched every pump to get it but seeing the long queue of vehicles, I had no option but to move on as I was already getting late for work and waiting would take not less than an hour.” The decision of the government has badly hit the metro commuters in the capital here. They were seen standing in long queues at different stations of the city for purchasing tokens as they couldn’t recharge their metro cards due to shortage of cash after the banking services were shut from midnight last night.
Some commuters were busy in exchanging their notes of Rs 500 denomination by purchasing tokens, despite having sufficient balance in their cards for travelling. One of the passenger travelling in a Metro said, “The government should have at least given some more time to the common people on the issue before implementing the decision as everyone is facing.
He, however, hailed Prime Minister Narendra Modi for his fight against curbing black money saying, “though we are facing difficulties but this initiative will help in rooting out corruption from the country and everybody should support Modi.” Rohit Sharma, who works in a private organisation, also said, “Although people will face difficulty in getting money for a few more days but it will help in curbing corruption. The government should have given us time to prepare for this situation. This is a very short period in which we have to arrange money for all our daily needs.”
Naushad Hussain, an auto driver, said, “People are facing difficulty in daily needs as the shopkeepers are not accepting Rs 500 and Rs 1000. There are long queues at petrol pumps, railway stations and bus stands, etc.”