Soiled Notes Eradication Drive

The Reserve Bank of India's (RBI) city office has embarked on the second phase of its campaign to eradicate the menace of soiled and mutilated currency notes of Re 1, Rs 2 and Rs 5 denominations from all parts of Gujarat, according to RBI regional director (Gujarat) V S Das.

Saying that the first phase of the drive launched last year was very fruitful, Das revealed that because of the campaign notes packed in plastic packets have disappeared from several places including Ahmedabad. A similar drive is already continuing in Bhavnagar, Rajkot and Vadodara and other centres such as Bhuj, Deesa, Gandhidham, Jamnagar, Junagadh, Porbandar, Surat, would be taken up shortly, he added.

 

Emphasising that the central bank has also stepped up remittances of coins to various Gujarat towns having this problem of soiled and mutilated notes, Das said, "Public sector banks have also been urged to rise to the occasion and provide exchange facilities to the members of public at all their branches. In this connection, a letter has been sent by the RBI deputy governor to the chairmen of all concerned public sector banks. "Maintaining that it is necessary that people stop using and accepting such mutilated and soiled currency notes, Das advised anyone who comes across such notes should tender them for exchange at the counters of public sector banks or at the mobile counters specifically moving around in various districts of Gujarat.

Claiming that RBI is closely monitoring the drive and it is determined to solve the problem, he said that within the next few months entire Gujarat would be cleared of all the soiled and mutilated notes currently in circulation.