Rumours of anti-demonetisation strike baseless: Government

The Finance Ministry on Tuesday dismissed as baseless rumours that some institutions were planning a strike against demonetisation and said technology teams will be set up to hasten the pace of recalibrating ATMs.

"Don't believe rumours spread on the social media about certain institutions going on strike," Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das told reporters here.

"On zooming the (strike) picture on the social media, it was found to be from 2015," he added.

Das was briefing the media on the second review meeting on demonetisation held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi with officials of the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Monday night.

To ease liquidity crunch, Das said, it was decided to constitute 'technology teams' to hasten the pace of recalibrating the ATMs for the new high-denomination notes.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had said it will take 2-3 weeks to recalibrate the ATMs. All ATMs in India need to be calibrated afresh to disburse the newly-minted Rs 500 and Rs 2,000 notes as per their weight, dimensions, design and security features.

The technology teams have also been directed to popularise e-wallets among people, Das said.

Micro ATMs are also being deployed in banks across the country.

"Separate green channel is being created in banks across the country for micro ATMs," he said.

Among other measures, a task force has been formed to monitor stocking and transfer of old notes in other places, the senior officer said.

Assuring the people of enough cash availability with banks and post offices, Das said there was no reason for panic.

--IANS

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