BENGALURU: With salaries credited for December, the working population is now feeling the heat of demonetisation. Many are getting their salaries and wages in instalments. This is true mostly in case of small scale industries and construction companies. Since most of the small scale industry employees do not have a bank account, the situation has become worse for many. Making the situation worse is the fact that even the employers have not had much profit in their businesses in the last 20 days after to the demonetisation move.
Unfortunately, there are also some who have not received any payment at all. S Balan, president of BBMP Pourakarmika Union, said, “We are the worst hit by demonetisation. Most of the families are unable to buy ration. We are yet to receive the salary for this month. We are worried about the future.”
Dileep Kumar, who works for a security agency, has not taken the salary for November as the demonetisation came into effect on November 8. He said, “We did not want to take the old notes. So we requested our employers to give us two months’ salary together. We have been told that we will be paid in cash.”
FKCCI president M C Dinesh said, “We have asked all of them (employees) to open their bank accounts. In the meantime, since payment is a challenge, we have decided to make some part of the payment now and the rest before December 10. And even if we make payments through cheque, the issue remains the same and that is the availability of cash. Again, the problem is with the construction workers, who are largely immigrants. Every Saturday is their pay day. The market is running on credit but how far can you do that? In agricultural produce market committee, there are around 88,000 shops and all of their businesses have been low. All these workers have their expenses to meet and all of us understand that. Hence, we have requested all members of the industry body to make partial payments.”
Voicing concerns Dr L Ravindran, Managing Director of Wealthmax Enterprises Management Private Ltd, said, “There are few industries which handle everything with cash. This is an issue. The solution however is simple. All will have to hold a bank account or come under a digital platform. In fact, a lot of contract labourers have returned to their natives such as Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar. They will return after three or four months when the situation is normal.”
Where you can use old notes