NT NETWORK
PANAJI
The money exchange facility, started by the central government at the banks and the post offices, to facilitate smooth transfer of new Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 currency notes to the public, is becoming more and more difficult exercise for the aam aadmi, with every passing day coming out with additional stringent measures for this exercise.
In fact, many city banks such as the Panaji branch of the Goa Urban Co-operative Bank have entirely stopped the money exchange exercise in the absence of the currency notes.
“I have lost count of the number of times I rang up various officials for procuring smaller denomination notes,” informed Uday Nagarsekar, the branch manager on Wednesday morning, stating that the bank is yet to receive order about the use of indelible ink, during such exchange.
“But then what is the use of applying indelible ink to the fingers of the customers when there are no currency notes to exchange,” he questioned.
As per the central government order, a small mark of indelible ink, used mostly during elections to prevent multiple voting, would now be put on the right-hand finger of those exchanging the demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes for new ones, from Wednesday to prevent crowding at banks by repeat exchangers.
Exchanging money at some banks under ‘provision of exchange facility’ is no less than an ordeal for the customers, with the bank officials quizzing them for exchange of a paltry sum of Rs 4,500.
To cite an example, a visit to the Campal branch of the Bank of India for exchanging the permitted amount of Rs 4,500, makes the customer go to ‘Room No 10’, where an official interrogates the customer about his or her history of such an exchange as well as currency withdrawals through cheque/withdrawal slip, since November 10. If the customer has previously not exchanged any money then he is asked to write down on a specific form, the serial numbers of the currency notes he or she is carrying for the exchange purpose, up to maximum amount of Rs 4,500. If the customer has already exchanged Rs 4,000, in any bank or any post office as allowed few days ago, then he or she is allowed to exchange the remaining sum of Rs 500. The form is then stamped, the customer asked to sign, and send to the money exchange counter. The customer is also informed that if he desires to exchange more amounts, then he would have to wait till November 24, after which he would be able to swap another Rs 4,500.
The nightmarish experience, including the interrogation-smelling inquiry transports the customers straight to the novel ‘Nineteen Eighty-Four’ by George Orwell, where the ‘Stalinesque’ Big Brother watches everything, seeks all the information and loves interrogation of ‘enemies of the party’.
Incidentally, the official notification as regards the limit of Rs 4,500 for exchanging the old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, till further review by the Reserve Bank of India, does not state that the permitted exchange amount is “Rs 4,500 per day”. However, there is no further clarification in this regards, making various banks and post offices interpret it the way they like.
The situation nevertheless has resulted in absence of queues before the money exchange counters of some of the banks and the post offices.