Kerala: District treasury not hit on pay day

KOCHI: The district treasury at Kakkanad looked like an oasis with enough cash. Even though the government hiked the withdrawal limit to Rs 24,000 from a single account, the treasury didn’t witness any rush. “We have only the regular number of customers. It didn't take more than 15 minutes for a pensioner to get his payment,” said Mary K.G., District Treasury officer. On Thursday morning the district treasury opened with Rs 1 crore received from the bank and around Rs 90 lakh was disbursed to pensioners. The situation might be tough in the coming days as the salary of government staff will be credited to their accounts from Thursday, the Treasury officer said.

However, employees and pensioners in the district were not so lucky on pay day. Sub treasuries saw people turning up as early as 4.30 am. Most of the pensioners who queued up in front of treasuries found the post-demonetisation situation very hard. They said that the government’s decision has made them suffer. “It is difficult to stand in long queues at this age. We have no other option as we need money for daily expenses,” said Dharmadas, a retired police officer. In the treasuries, pension was disbursed on first-come first-serve basis. There was no token system at the pension payment sub treasury, Ernakulam. Babu Senon, Sub Treasury officer said that all the cheques submitted could be cleared.

As many as 767 cheques were submitted and a total of Rs 1.38 crore has been disbursed.   Six counters were opened for pension disbursement. Meanwhile, many salaried people who came to withdraw salary found ATMs dry and not enough currency in banks. Many people were affected. “Though I could get money, all the notes were in Rs 2,000 denomination. There was no Rs 100 or Rs 50 notes in bank or ATM,” said M. Deepthi, a teacher. Eldhose P., an employee in irrigation department is disturbed that he had to struggle a lot to get the salary from the bank. However, there were different voices who are in support of the currency ban saying that they found the post-demonetization situation as hassle free.