BHUBANESWAR: Demonetisation of high value currency notes has made black money carriers and hoarders to seek new ways to convert them to white. Though the travel industry witnessed a fall in railway reservations, there was a significant surge in air ticket bookings in the State. Transactions at banks were also high as compared to regular working days.
The East Coast Railway (ECoR), which covers a major part of Odisha, saw a reduction in bookings in unreserved coaches. The authorities attributed the reason to lack of lower denomination currency with passengers. In the reserved segment too, bookings were normal and there was a marginal fall at some counters. “We were on alert from day one following demonetisation and started monitoring bookings of highvalued transactions,” ECoR CPRO JP Mishra said.
Any refund for a booking above Rs 10,000 was credited to the bank account of the passenger. Besides, for bookings above Rs 50,000, Railway staffers sought PAN details of passengers. Probably these two strategies discouraged passengers to utilise railway booking as an option to exchange demonetised notes, Mishra added. Meanwhile, the State Capital saw a sudden surge in booking of air tickets. On a normal November day, Air India (AI) does a business of Rs 2 lakh. As the Central Government has allowed use of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes for purchase of air tickets, this has been a lucrative segment for people to opt for.
On Thursday, AI closed its counters at Biju Patnaik International Airport with a business of Rs 10 lakh while the transaction was Rs 9 lakh on Friday. “During the peak season, we book a maximum of 15-20 tickets per day whereas the figure was 50 on Thursday and 60 on Friday,” an AI official said hinting that people have booked advance travel packages. There were also instances where customers came in for cancellation and refund within 12 hours of booking.
“This was an attempt to get back legal tenders of Rs 500 and Rs 2000 notes. However, the AI staffers were given clear instructions not to entertain such requests,” AI Station Manager TK Ray said. There was a significant rise in collection of holding tax by Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) which accepted the old denomination currency notes from residents of the City. While the holding tax collection ranges between Rs 1.5 lakh and Rs 2 lakh on a normal November day, it was Rs 18 lakh on Sunday and the civic body generated a revenue of Rs 48.54 lakh on Monday, BMC sources said.
The Corporation has decided to accept Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination notes till November 24. Banks have collected huge deposits in the last couple of days. An SBI branch in the City, which transacts Rs 50 lakh per day, recorded Rs 2 crore as deposits on Thursday and Rs 1.8 crore on Friday, the bank manager said on conditions of anonymity