Trouble, Say Bureaucrats Sent By Delhi To Check On Notes Ban In Bihar

Patna: Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has overcome his usual antipathy to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to offer fulsome praise of the abrupt ban on 500 and 1,000-rupee notes, promising his "full support" to the scheme that seeks to attack black or untaxed money.

But across his state, three senior bureaucrats sent by the centre to assess the impact on the ground have returned to Patna with a catalogue of complaints from people they encountered.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, one of them told NDTV "Everywhere, the common man spoke of facing plenty of problems post demonetization." Their findings, they said, diverge from the feedback given to Prime Minister Narendra Modi through a survey on his app, which showed overwhelming public support for his reform, and has been dismissed by the opposition as disingenuous.

A total of 80 bureaucrats were dispatched to different parts of the country to gauge public opinion. They will submit their report to the Finance Ministry tomorrow.

Of major concern for the visiting bureaucrats in Bihar was the feedback from farmers who said that cooperative banks, a primary source of loans and financing, are not accepting the outlawed notes.  The government has permitted farmers to use the abolished 500-rupee notes to buy seeds and withdraw upto 25,000 rupees a week against crop loans. But in conversations with the touring bureaucrats, farmers said that ATMs aren't working, and banks run out of cash every day, which means they are finding it tough to buy seeds and fertilizer at a time when they should be sowing their winter crops.

"We are not surprised by the feedback these central emissaries from Delhi are getting. In fact, they should spend more time in remote areas to see how bad things are. The worst is yet to come as different associations have threatened strikes," said Ashok Choudhary, who, in Bihar heads the Congress. The party is fore-fronting the opposition's attack on the government over demonetization in parliament.

A common complaint, some of the bureaucrats said, was that the weekly limit of withdrawal of 24,000 rupees per bank account must be urgently increased to 50,000. Several businessmen also complained that work in their factories has stopped -not just because of a dip in demand, but also because workers are refusing payment by cheque.

Some of the bureaucrats are meeting representatives of industry associations and trade unions in Patna today. On their return to Delhi, they will present their report to the central government.