Thiruvananthapuram: The state government on Thursday asked the centre to lift the restrictions imposed on the cooperative sector in the state on the exchange of demonetised notes. At present, district cooperative banks are allowed to take only deposits of demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes in their KYC compliant accounts. They cannot exchange these notes with those of other denominations, though other banks can do so. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Finance Minister T.M. Thomas Isaac sent letters to Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley demanding permission to the district cooperative banks to exchange demonetised notes with other notes.
The letters also raised the lack of clarity in the norms related to demonetised notes. While Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his speech had pointed out that the state transport corporation, crematoriums, milk booths and supermarkets of cooperative societies can accept such notes, such a directive was absent in the order issued by the RBI. The state also asked the central government to allow electricity board, agencies engaged in water supply, financial corporation, financial enterprises and such other government-run financial institutions to collect demonetised notes.
