THIRUVANATHAPURAM: Acquiring a stamp paper worth Rs 100 has become a tough task for the public. The past several weeks witnessed an acute shortage of Rs 100-stamp paper in the city and vendors say they are helpless
“We have been experiencing this problem for the past two months. Whenever we contact the treasury, we get the cold response that it is out of stock,” said G Somasekharan, a stamp vendor and document writer in Sasthamangalam.
The Government notification on April 1, 2010, making stamp paper worth Rs 100 mandatory for agreements and affidavits has made the issue severe, he said.
‘’The only alternative is, you can write the document on two Rs 50-stamp papers, instead of a single Rs 100-stamp paper. But that too is not devoid of flaws. There are some departments like the KSFE which do not encourage this,’’ he said.
‘’As business transactions are huge in the city, the demand for stamp papers is also high. Whenever the shortage occurs, we have to send people to places like Nedumangad and Vellanad to buy Rs 100-stamp papers,’’ said Sunil Kumar, another document writer in the city.
He also shared a rumour going around for quite sometime that the authorities are blocking the sale of Rs 100-stamp paper to sell off Rs 50-stamp paper. On why they were not bringing this issue to the attention of the authorities, Sasidharan Nair, another vendor, said that as they were licensees under the government, they could not directly complain to the authorities.
‘’The public should take the initiative. The Kerala Stamp Vendors’ Union can support their demand,” he said.
But, Union secretary Kiliyalloor Sasi offered a different reason for the shortage. He said: ‘’We have already brought the attention of the authorities to this issue. The shortage is owing to government’s move to implement e-stamping. The talks with Stock Trading Corporation, Mumbai, in this regard were successful and we fear it will pose a lot
of hazards to the common man and computer illiterates,’’ he said.
Admitting there was a shortage, a treasury official said that it has been solved as fresh stocks of Rs 100-stamp paper has rrived in the state. ‘’But, we are not able to circulate it as some of our staff are on election duty,’’ he said.
trivandrum@expressbuzz.com
