K'taka Govt cancels Kanaka Jayanti holiday, all banks to remain open tomorrow

Keeping in mind the heightened needs of the public following demonetisation, the Karnataka Government has cancelled the holiday of Kanaka Jayanti and has instructed all banks to work as usual.

Chief Minister Siddaramaiah has instructed all banks to work as usual tomorrow and also to facilitate the public to exchange notes and withdraw cash.

"In response to media reports of public facing problems, the State Government has cancelled the holiday declared for Kanaka Jayanti, under the Negotiable Instruments Act 1881, for all scheduled and commercial banks in the State, and has asked them to work to ease pressure from the demonetisation of higher denomination currency notes and help the public, according to Chief Minister Siddaramaiah," read the government statement.

This comes after the Chief Minister on Tuesday urged the Centre to extend the deadline for using old notes for exempted categories to December 30 from November 24 to mitigate the hardships of people after the November 8th demonetisation.

He also sought the inclusion of more services where the demonetised notes could be used, like blood banks, private hospitals and nursing homes, diagnostic labs etc.

"Extend the time limit for the use of old currency (Rs 500 and Rs 1,000) in exempted categories till December 30, as it has been given to exchange them for all till then," said Siddaramaiah in a letter to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley.