Rourkela: With `500 and `1,000 denomination notes becoming illegal since November 8 midnight, industrialists, traders and mines owners of this city are having sleepless nights over the issue, a report said.
However, these cash hoarders refuse to give in as they hope that they can recover a few crores ahead of the deadline of December 30.
Meanwhile, some brokers on their behalf have targeted construction workers and daily labourers to convert illegal notes into legal tender, it was learnt.
According to reports, the hoarders meet the brokers at secret locations and behind closed doors of hotels to chalk out effective strategies. Some are given up to `2 lakh cash to deposit in their own accounts while a few others are handed over up to `10 lakh of old denomination notes to convert them into new currencies.
One can spot the brokers at several slums on the outskirts of the city early in the morning every day. They are handing over `4,500 each to the slum dwellers and asking them to get their jobs done at the banks. The workers are specially advised to deposit the cash in the branches of rural banks in and around the city to avoid public attention, it was learnt.
On the other hand, the workers, cashing in on the opportunity, are chipping in to make some easy money. They leave their houses at about 8 am with their identity proofs and the old currencies and stand in queues like genuine clients. They are trained in such a manner that hardly anyone can cast any doubt. The brokers meet them at the slum in the evening and collect the new currencies handing them `300 each for their day’s ‘work’. Employing this method, the brokers manage to accumulate about `five lakh in 5 days and hand them over to their employers in exchange of lucrative commissions.
Owners of some factories are learnt to have paid at least six month’s salary in advance to their employees in cash. A few others have asked their loyal staff to keep up to `2 lakh in their personal savings accounts. They would take back the cash later once the situation gets normal. The owners have promised their employees to leave some percentage of the deposit in the latter’s accounts, an employee said under condition of anonymity.
Even as it is in the knowledge of the bank employees that about 30 per cent of people standing in queues at several bank counters belong to workers’ class and have been employed by cash hoarders, they are helpless in this regard.
Locals demanded that the police should pursue the brokers and seize the illegal money from hoarders.
Meanwhile, a report from Berhampur said the demonetisation of high denomination currency notes has badly hit agricultural and construction activities, as cash-starved farmers are finding it hard to pay farmhands, who are demanding wages in advance, that too in `100 denomination.
People in Ganjam district said they do not have enough cash to pay to daily wage labourers. The demonetisation crisis also affected construction activities in different areas. With labourers reluctant to accept `500 and `1,000 notes, people are seen struggling to secure `100 notes to continue construction works. Several house owners have been forced to stop such activities, it was learnt. PNN
