THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The CPM central leadership has urged the Centre to permit the use of scrapped denominations till December 30, the time limit set by the Union Government, or until alternative arrangements including availability of required currency and the recalibration of the ATM machines are completed.
The CPM politburo which met in New Delhi on Tuesday demanded that the Centre should accept requests by Chief Ministers of Kerala and Tripura and permit state governments to accept scrapped currencies for payments until alternative arrangements are put in place.
The PB hoped that other non-BJP state governments will also take measures to provide relief to people in their states. The PB also called upon its units to organise protests demanding that the Centre allow the use of scrapped currencies till alternative arrangements are in place.
“Reports indicate that there has been total disruption of the payments and settlements system and has impacted all citizens. In the rural areas the crisis is much more grave. Markets are closed in various places. People are unable to buy even bare essentials and life-saving medicines. It has put at discomfort the vast mass of our people most of whom are outside of the banking and the non-cash economic system,” pointed out a statement.
The CPM opined that the measures do not address the issues of black money, corruption, counterfeit currency and terrorist funding. “No effort has been made whatsoever to bring back the bulk of black money which is generated and stored in offshore accounts in foreign currency. Cash constitutes only 6 per cent of the black economy.
“Reports show that in many states the local BJP units deposited huge amounts of money in Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in their accounts hours before the PM’s announcement,” the PB observed.