TIRUPUR: The district collector K Vijay Karthikeyan has offered financial assistance to the two elderly sisters who realised three years after demonetisation that their entire savings worth Rs 46,000 were worthless.
According to an official release, the sisters were awarded an old age pension and recommendation letters to the Principal of Perundurai Medical College for medical treatment. The collector also assured that he will draft a recommendation letter to the district lead bank to exchange the old currency notes.
The two elderly siblings in their seventies squirrelled away their earnings in rice bags, an aluminium box, and their 'surukku pai' for around 20 years.
The families only recently learned of the secret stash. Rangammal (75) and Thangammal (78) had put away around Rs 24,000 and Rs 22,000 respectively for their funeral and grandchildren. Distrustful of their children, the women kept it a secret, fearing that their kids would splurge it on liquor.
Rangammal and Thangammal -- residents of Poomalur in Palladam -- were taken aback when they realised that the money they scrimped and saved from the Rs 100 - Rs 150 wage they got by rearing cattle had ceased to be legal tender.
They kept those savings a secret among themselves and didn't exchange them during demonetisation. When the sons were worried about the money for the medical expenses, the sisters responded by showing old currency notes around Rs 46,000.