This Article is From Dec 05, 2016

Maharashtra Opposition Stages Walkout Over Demonetisation

Maharashtra Opposition Stages Walkout Over Demonetisation

The opposition said the common man was suffering due to the scrapping of old notes.

Nagpur:

The winter session of Maharashtra Legislature started on a stormy note today as the opposition members led by Congress and NCP staged a walkout when the Chair disallowed an adjournment motion moved to protest the hardships faced by people in the wake of demonetisation.

As the House assembled on opening day of the winter session of Legislature, Leader of Opposition Radhakrishna Vikhe Patil (Congress) raised the issue in the state Assembly and drew the attention of the treasury benches, saying the entire opposition was "with the government to support the measures to tackle corruption".

But at the same time, the common man was "suffering" due to scrapping of higher currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000, he said.

Mr Patil claimed the farmers were distressed as there was no money to procure seeds and fertilisers as the Rabi sowing was in full swing.

It was a painful sight to witness long queues outside banks and ATMs and some people died while waiting to withdraw cash, he added.

Mr Patil said it was unfortunate that when the BJP and Shiv Sena were in opposition, they held the then ruling Congress-NCP responsible for farmers' suicides and demanded filing of an FIR and registering offences under section 302 (murder) of IPC.

"Now, the situation has completely changed and those accusing the Congress and NCP of farmers' suicides were in the government. Should we lodge FIR against the ruling party?" he asked and later moved an adjournment motion.

The LoP also claimed that the rural economy was on the "verge of collapse". The co-operative sector was worst hit. The district co-operative banks, rural banks and co-operative societies were facing cash crunch. The prices of vegetables have crashed to an all-time low since there were no buyers for want of currency notes.

Group Leader Ajit Pawar (NCP) also raised concern over the "poor management" of currency notes its and subsequent affect leading to problems being faced by the poor, small-time vendors and farmers.



(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

.