KOLKATA: Among the many poor people shortchanged by the Union government’s demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes are the 1,82,000 workers in West Bengal’s 277 tea gardens.
Their salaries are due, and the shortage of Rs 100 currency notes is pushing their hand-to-mouth existence over the edge. Tea garden owners, incorporated as the Indian Tea Association, rushed to West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee for help.
Two days after the surprise move by the Union government, the chips seem to have fallen differently than planned. While long queues continued to for outside ATMs and banks in Bengal, the new Rs 2000 note, crisp and princely, is taking a distant second place to the old Rs 100 note in the affections of the market.
Be it fruit sellers, fishmongers or chemists, no one wants to let go of their 100 bucks. “Where will I get the change? I’d rather lose business than give away my Rs 100 notes,” said Shamik Majumdar, a medical shop owner at Raja Bazaar.
In the banks, tellers were trying to push the 2000 buck note but citizens wanted the familiar blue because they had bills to pay and things to buy, not keep a sexy thing secure in their wallets.
“Customers want only new Rs 500 notes. But our Rs 500 notes got over and we are left with Rs 2,000 notes,” said a banker in Tollygunge.
On day two of demonetization, many people went home dejected after hours of waiting at ATMs, most of which ran out of cash to disgorge within less than an hour. Hundreds of SBI’s 3,500 ATMs in West Bengal and more than 3,000 ATMs of other banks were either closed or cashless.
BJP boss Amit Shah insisted demonetisation has not affected the common people and advised Mamata Banerjee “not to join the ranks of black marketers and hoarders” by opposing it.
To which, Trinamool Congress MP and spokesperson Derek O’Brien Amit Shah’s replied that “Amit Shah’s view is Lodhi Garden’s view. Mamata Banerjee’s view is grassroot’s view. We will take up the issue in the winter session of Parliament.”