Collector asks people not to panic

- Says that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes can be exchanged from Thursday at banks
- Asks people to be wary of exchanging cash with black-money holders

Eluru: West Godavari district Collector K Bhaskar advised people not to panic over the cancellation of the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes as the government has said that these notes can be exchanged from tomorrow.

In a press release, the Collector said that the Centre had scrapped the Rs 500 and Rs 1000 denomination currency notes to curb counterfeit currency besides unearthing the black money. In view of this, there would be some problems in the initial stage, he added.

However, he stated that even the people in possession of those denomination currencies need not worry about their money as these can be exchanged in the banks from today until December 30. The account holders may credit those notes in their accounts and others may exchange them at nationalized banks as per the government’s diktat, said Bhaskar.

He added that ATMs would function round-the-clock from November 11 and customers may withdraw Rs 2,000 per day till November 18 and Rs 4,000 per day from November 19. But withdrawals from banks have been capped at Rs 10,000 per day and Rs 20,000 per week until November 24.

The collector warned the people to be on the alert as the administration had received information that some black-money holders had been trying to dump their currency in the market by targeting poor people for the exchange of their currency.

He suggested to people not to take those notes from the black- money holders.