Public life paralysed on Day-1

State BJP welcomes Modi’s daring step

Visakhapatnam: Total financial transactions in all public and private banks were affected in the district on the Day-1 with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement of withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes from circulation from Tuesday midnight. With the spread of news, all the ATMs were jampacked with the customers on Tuesday night itself where they emptied all Rs 100 notes by repeatedly withdrawing Rs 400 only each time. The situation became worse on Wednesday morning starting with milk booths as the customers brought Rs 500 notes seeking change while the booth operators refused to accept the notes demanding actual change.

Daily wage earners were the worst affected on the first day with the lack of small denomination notes. Later, it’s the turn of grocery shops, Rytu Bazars and hotels where the poor, middle class and elderly people suffered.

Is it justifiable to trouble all sections of people in the pretext of curbing the flow of black money in the country, angry senior citizens questioned? Later, the trouble started at the petrol bunks and the toll plazas where they were demanding small notes only. Many vehicle users had heated arguments with the petrol bunk owners at many places when they denied change for Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 notes. Similar fights were witnessed at the Aganampudi toll plaza on the outskirts of the city on Wednesday when they were demanding small denominations which resulted in traffic jams. Later, the vehicle users heaved a sigh of relief with the announcement of cancellation of toll plaza for three days.

When contacted, senior traffic inspector of RTC Vizag region Ujwala told The Hans India on Wednesday that they were accepting Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes without creating problem for the passengers. She said the conductors or the ticket counter clerks will give the change immediately failing which they write ‘due’ on the rear side of the ticket and the passengers could collect the same from the depot concerned on the next day. When asked how long they could accept the notes, she replied that it will be up to the re-opening of banks.

Meanwhile, the City President of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) M Nagendra welcoming the Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s daring step of withdrawing Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes from circulation, claimed this initiative will tackle the menace of flowing of black money in the country. He told reporters here on Wednesday that this bold measure would not only help the Government control the financial aid to be provided to the terrorists and anti-social elements but also it will have a control over financial transactions of religious organizations. He said economists, political leaders and all sections of people too welcomed the initiative as it will have a bearing effect on the country’s economy.