Pondy banks see long queues

Puducherry: As the banks reopened for the first time on Thursday since the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on Tuesday night, people made a beeline to exchange old notes with loose change and to deposit the rest. People were seen waiting outside many banks as early as 6 am to exchange their defunct notes across the Union Territory. Police security was posted in front of all banks to regulate crowds and in most of the banks voluntary organisations came forward to distribute the form to be filled to get the currency notes changed free of cost.

State Bank of India returned Rs 100, Rs 20 and Rs 10 notes after getting Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, while Canara Bank and UCO bank provided the newly introduced Rs 2,000 notes. Many of the banks stopped issuing money to the customers by the afternoon when the problem of change occurred and instead asked the people to deposit the money in their accounts.

The restriction that one could get only Rs 4,000 a day severely impacted ordinary people. At the same time, as many as 30 volunteers of Puthiya Jananaayaga Thozhilalar Munnani (PJTM) were arrested when they put up a road blockade to protest against Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s announcement that currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations will not be legal tender  from Wednesday.

They alleged that the Prime Minister failed to bring out black money, which was one of his poll promises and the new decision is only to divert public attention, which will create hardship for common people. The volunteers put up a road blockades at Indira Gandhi square on Thursday and were arrested by the police. About 50 volunteers of Human Rights and Consumer Protection Society resorted to a demonstration at the Kamaraj statue junction on the issue, defying a police ban. They were also arrested.