NCP flays note exchange ban on district cooperative banks

NCP today criticised RBI's decision to ban district co-operative banks from accepting the defunct currency notes from people, saying the move has pushed the rural population into a financial crisis.
The Reserve Bank of India (RBI), earlier this week, said District Central Co-operative Banks (DCCBs) will not be allowed to provide any exchange facility against Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes which have been demonetised.
Talking to reporters, party spokesman Nawab Malik said the government should deploy staff from Mantralaya (state secretariat) to handle currency exchange if it does not trust DCCB employees.
"Hardships being faced by the rural population (due to the exchange ban on DCCBs) should end soon," he said.

If the district banks, which mostly operate in rural and semi-urban areas, were allowed to accept the now obsolete currency notes and give valid bills, farmers and villagers, who are facing financial crisis, would get the much-needed relief, Malik said.
The government should treat nationalised banks and DCCBs at par as far as currency exchange issue is concerned, the NCP spokesman said.

Malik also criticised the decision to put indelible ink on fingers of customers visiting banks and lowering the limit of exchanging defunct notes to Rs 2,000 from the earlier Rs 4,500.
"This is not a good sign for democracy. The BJP government does not want to give loan waiver to farmers but loan worth thousands of crores of rupees have been written off for industrialists," he said.

Speaking about the local body elections, Malik said that in the first phase, where 165 municipal councils and nagar panchayats will go to polls, NCP has aligned with like-minded parties at 82 places, while at others it is going alone.
The first phase polling will be held on November 27.