Demonetisation: Sharad Pawar questions money distribution sources amid notes seizure

Against the backdrop of seizure of valid currencies across country, NCP chief Sharad Pawar questioned the "cash distribution sources" at a time when the common man is facing liquidity crunch.

Continuing his attack against demonetisation, the veteran politician said while the common man is standing in queues outside banks to get his money, crores of rupees in new notes are being seized from people with "wrong intentions".

"Nowadays on news channels, news reports are shown about seizures of crores of cash in new notes of Rs 2000. However, the question is when common man is not getting cash from the banks, despite standing in queues outside the banks, how come such a huge cash in new notes being seized in raids in the country?" Pawar asked.

The former Union minister said there are four sources from where the cash is distributed in the country.

"First, the four printing presses, the Reserve Bank of India, State Bank of India and other banks..And when common man is having hardships getting his money through banks, crores of rupees in new currency are seized from people with wrong intentions. Is it that this huge cash coming from these sources?" Pawar questioned.

He was speaking at a state-level summit of non-teaching employers in Pimpri near here.

"Government is pitching for cashless society, but even in country like America, 52 per cent transactions are done through cash. Before November 8 (when demonetisation was announced), 98 per cent transactions were done in cash. That percentage might have gone down after demonetisation," Pawar said, adding people are finding it difficult to do cashless transactions.

Taking a dig at Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appeal that cash crunch will gradually ease after 50 days since recall of old notes, Pawar said, "Modiji sought 50 days. Now we are counting the days. Forty days are over, 10 days are left, let's see what happens."

He said some MPs in ruling government are "scared" after demonetisation and the announcement of proposed curbs on unaccounted properties and gold.

"Some MPs who in power speak privately that they are scared of going to their towns after note recall. They fear that with Modiji deciding to go after properties and gold, it would be their last tenure as members," the Maratha leader said.