Ghazanfar Abbas, IndiaTomorrow.net,
New Delhi, Nov 13: The sudden implementation of demonetization has left common people – from student to housewife to rickshaw-puller – with huge trouble in the entire country. Around 6,000 students living at hostels inside the campus of Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) in Delhi are among those facing hardship as ATMs installed at the campus are not working properly – most of them shut down since 9th Nov. JNU is the largest residential university in Delhi.
“There are nine ATMs in JNU campus. None of them is working. I am standing outside one of them since morning. Leave Rs 2000, we are not getting even Rs 200. We are facing problem in buying meal. We have borrowed at many places. People have become penniless these days,” says Ashish Chandra, a student standing outside an ATM with hope it will open with cash.
Aman Singh, post-graduate student of linguistics, while talking to IndiaTomorrow.net says: “We are facing problem since the day the decision was announced. All ATMs were closed. We are student. Hard cash is not available with us all the time. Now we are borrowing money from each other to manage our daily life. People say many ATMs are working in the city of Delhi but ATMS at our JNU campus are yet to start working. We are in severe difficulty.
The situation has frustrated many students.
Meera Krishnan, also a student, says: “We all are frustrated here. For the past three days, we have not been able to withdraw money at all. We have no money even for emergency. ATM is shut down at night. People fight with each other in the queue.”
Not many are against the measure but angry at its sudden implementation without proper management.
“The government should have implemented the scheme gradually. It should not have been like a bomb blast all of a sudden. It’s very bad idea to do it all of a sudden. We are standing in line with hope that ATM will open and we will get cash. If we do not get, will go back to our room and come back tomorrow,” says Meera.
Afzal Khan, also a post-graduate student says: “Thanks to the demonetization decision of the government, common people – from a rickshaw-puller to student – are facing hardship. We are standing here for the past six hours outside this ATM. Now the ATM has opened. Even we get Rs 2000, what will we do with it? We have to pay fee and eat also. We oppose the decision and the government should immediately change it.”
Santosh Kumar, a visually impaired Ph.D. student, says: “The queue outside the bank branch is long and goes up to the admin bloc. It is not the student’s problem alone. It is a large-scale problem. All are in trouble because all need money. It is true the government makes policy but when you make a policy, people should have been made aware for quite some time before because this issue is connected to our daily life.”
In a sudden address to the nation on 8th Nov, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had announced to ban all currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 in circulation from midnight that day. He said the step would check corruption and black money in the country. While many have supported the move, some are sceptic about the results and say the decision has brought big hardship to the common people.
