Congress demands complete data on banned notes

The Congress party on Monday demanded that the government disclose how much money in old currencies has come back to the banking system until December 30.

It also sought to know whether the returning old notes will be destroyed, and if yes, will it be done under the supervision of a Supreme Court-appointed committee or a joint parliamentary committee.

"The 50-day deadline of the government to deposit money expired on December 30, but the sufferings of the people continue," said Congress spokesperson Manish Tewari while briefing the media.

"It raises a few questions. About Rs 14.86 lakh crore in 500/1,000 rupee notes were withdrawn from the economy on November 8. We want the government to disclose how much of it has come back to the banking system till December 30.

"Who will be the custodian of these notes which have come back? Will that be the Reserve bank of India (RBI)?" said Tewari.

"If these currencies have to be destroyed, will the government be willing to undertake this exercise under the supervision of a Supreme Court-appointed committee or at least under a joint parliamentary committee?" he added.

The Congress also wanted to know from the government how much of the old notes are fake, and to what extent the terror financing has reduced.

"We want to know how much of it is black, how much is grey, blue, yellow and white... How much fake currencies have been found. What is the quantum of terror financing that has gone down," added Tewari.

Under normal circumstances, when a series of currency notes are demonetised, the central bank has the infrastructure to be able to absorb old notes, deal with them and put out new currencies, he said, adding that in this case, the RBI was totally unprepared.

"What is the government going to do to ensure that all these old notes do not leak back into the system?

"Why this question is germane because still some schemes like Garib Kalyan Yojana, facility to exchange notes in the RBI and deposits by NRIs are going to continue until March 31 and some until June," said Tewari.

--IANS

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