Demonetisation major catastrophe; biggest setback since independence : Mamata

Terming the central government's demonetisation decision "a major catastrophe", West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Tuesday said the "visionless policy" has massively impacted the working class of the nation.

"The draconian decision of demonetisation by the central government has drastically affected about five crore workers in the country. It's a major catastrophe," she said in a Facbook post.

Banerjee said the acute cash crunch after demonetisation is the biggest setback to the nation since Independence as it has left a huge number of workers either jobless or seriously affected.

"Around 1.25 crore workers in the country in unorganised sector, e-commerce, leather, jute, textiles, glass, beedi, gems and jewellery sectors and daily wage earners under government schemes like MNREGA have either lost jobs or have been seriously affected due to cash crunch," she said.

Expressing empathy for the suffering masses, Banerjee claimed the situation in organised sector is equally bad and might get even worse in the coming days.

"In big industries, retrenchment process is going on which has made or will make huge number of workers jobless.

"I can feel with deep sorrow the extensive sufferings and ordeal that these people are going through now," she added.

--IANS

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