Chief Minister to stage satyagraha before RBI Office

Thiruvananthapuram: Chief Minister Pinarai Vijayan and members of his Cabinet will offer a satyagraha before the Reserve Bank of India regional office here on Friday morning to highlight the crisis in cooperative sector following demonetisation of Rs. 500 and Rs. 1000 notes.

The Chief Minister said that refusal of the Centre to allow the cooperative banks to deal in demonetised currency had hit the working of the cooperatives. This would lead to collapse of Kerala’s economy.

He said that the Centre was trying to destroy the cooperative sector. A political conspiracy was behind that.

Mr. Vijayan said that the government will be convening an all-party meet on November 21 to discuss issues facing the cooperative sector following demonetisation. The BJP would also be invited to the meeting.

Opposition Leader Ramesh Chennithala, who met the Chief Minister with other UDF leaders to discuss the issue, said that the Opposition was willing to cooperate with LDF in protests. It had suggested convening of a sitting of the Assembly to discuss the crisis in the cooperative sector. It had also proposed that an all-party delegation should go Delhi to take up the issue with the Centre.

BJP leader O. Rajagopal said that the UDF and LDF was part of a nexus involving black money. This was why they were raising a protest against the cooperatives not being allowed to exchange notes.

Earlier, speaking after the Cabinet meeting, the Chief Minister said that arrangements had been made for payment of wages to estate workers through the district collectors. The estate owners could transfer money to the collector who would undertake the distribution of cash.

Mr. Vijayan said that the government had requested that RBI that identity cards should not be insisted for bank transfer of money by migrant labourers to accounts in their native places. Sufficient number of ATMs and counters for exchange of notes should be set up on way to Sabarimala during pilgrimage.

Meanwhile, most of the ATMS here and elsewhere continued to run out of cash. Some ATMs away from bank branches remain to be operationalised. People are finding it difficult to get cash and change for their day to day needs.