THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: Finance minister Thomas Isaac said that even as salary and pension distribution on the first-day of the month went off smoothly, the scenario may turn grim in the coming days unless the banks allotted sufficient funds. “Reserve Bank of India and other banks had initially promised to give Rs 500 crore in the initial days of the month. Later, citing currency shortage banks promised to release at least Rs 167 crore for the initial days. However, only Rs 111 crore was distributed till this evening. Unless the remaining funds are given, the situations may become tight in the coming days. The Centre is bound to release the funds,” said Dr Isaac.
He said that not even a single penny was allotted by banks to 12 treasuries till evening. Till 11.30 am, 42 treasuries did not receive a single penny from banks. Most of these were in rural parts of the state. The government also directed treasuries to advice customers that since core banking facility was enabled in treasuries, customers could withdraw money from any treasury. Treasuries were also directed not to deny maximum of Rs 24,000 by individuals. Dr Isaac also said that it would take a minimum of three hours for salaries to get credited in banks after bills were passed. Hence, employees should not get scared if they did not find money in their accounts immediately after bills were passed.
Reacting to allegations that the government was creating unnecessary scare, Dr Isaac said that he was only telling the facts and even initiating steps to reduce inconvenience caused to people as a result of demonetisation. He also said that employees of private establishments would be badly hit as disbursement of salaries would be affected. The finance minister said that demonetisation was turning out to a damp squib. Studies indicated that Rs 1.2 lakh crore was required for the demonetisation exercise.
The present trend shows that the only around Rs 1 lakh crore black money could be unearthed with demonestisation. Meanwhile in Kollam, Dr Isaac said it was impossible to distribute salary without enough currency notes. “Out of Rs 9.2 cr demanded by the district, only Rs 7.5 crore was received on Thursday. The sub treasuries including Chathannoor and Paravur did not get any money while Karunagappally treasury received money only by afternoon,” said Dr Isaac. “The situation in other districts is much more serious. In several treasuries in the state, there existed a situation that the received money was insufficient to pay off salaries,” he said.
