Kolkata: The West Bengal unit of the CPM today alleged that a huge amount of cash was deposited in the bank account of the state unit of the BJP. The deposits were made immediately before Prime Minister Narendra Modi demonetised Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes on November 8, said CPM general secretary Surya Kanta Mishra, citing a media report.

A report published in the CPM mouthpiece, ‘Ganashakti’, today claimed that Rs 1 crore (in denomination of Rs 1,000 and Rs 500) was deposited at the Central Avenue branch of Indian Bank here on November 8. The money (in transactions of Rs 60 lakh and Rs 40 lakh) was deposited in a savings account no 554510034, which is in the name of the West Bengal unit of the BJP.

The report further said while Rs 75 lakh was deposited in a current account (63652513881) belonging to the West Bengal BJP unit in the same bank on November 1, Rs 1.25 crore was deposited in the same account on November 5. A total of Rs 3 crore had been deposited bank accounts of the BJP in six days preceding November 8, Mishra said.

However, a BJP spokesman brushed aside CPM charges and said, “When funds are deposited in bank accounts, the party exposes itself to scrutiny by the Election Commission and the Income Tax Department.”

(Agencies)

New Delhi: Queues outside banks grew longer as did confusion and chaos, with all cash vending machines still not functioning despite a two-day break for stocking up new currency notes.

People waited for hours to get the cash needed to meet their daily expenses as most prevalent higher denomination currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000 were declared invalid.

ATMs, which reopened two days after Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced demonetisation of two biggest currency notes, had people queued up since early morning.

But not all of them were operating and the crowds at many of the machines grew increasingly agitated on learning that they were still inactive. Bank officials said all ATMs should start functioning by tomorrow after old notes are removed and new Rs 500 and Rs 2000 ones stocked in them.

However, withdrawal from ATMs is limited to a maximum of Rs 2,000 per card in a day up to November 18, 2016. The limit will be raised to Rs 4,000 per day per card from November 19, 2016 onwards, bankers said.

State Bank of India, the nation’s largest lender, said it could take 10 days for ATM services to settle down to normal.

There are nearly 2 lakh ATMs in the country. Many of them are configured to dispense only Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 notes and cannot dispense Rs 100 or Rs 2000 notes, so they have to be reconfigured too.

Yesterday, when banks opened after a day’s break, millions rushed to deposit and swap Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. Only a maximum of Rs 4,000 per person was being exchanged at banks and select post offices.

Banks opened additional counters to exchange notes as also allow withdrawal from bank accounts through cheque or withdrawal slips with a ceiling of Rs 10,000 in a day within an overall limit of Rs 20,000 in a week (including withdrawals from ATMs) for the first fortnight i.e. up to November 24.

Interestingly, today is the last date for old notes to be accepted as payment for water and electricity bills, government penalties, and at state-run petrol pumps, government hospitals, metros and railway tickets.

After midnight tonight, even these utility payments would have to be done in either lower denomination currency or in new currency notes, which will add to the pressure on banks and ATMs.

Banks will work on weekend and till at least 7 pm on these days to cater to the rush.

(Agencies)

Mumbai: Amid the woes of customers hit by cash crunch, a 73-year-old man, who was standing in a queue to exchange his old currency notes here, collapsed and died in suburban Mulund this afternoon, police said.

Vishwanath Vartak, a senior citizen, was standing in a queue outside a branch of the State Bank of India in Navghar area of Mulund (East) to exchange his notes when he suddenly fell down at around 1.30 PM, they said.

As he fell, some people, who were also in the queue, rushed him to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead before admission, police said adding that the body has been sent for postmortem.

Police also visited the spot where the elderly man collapsed.According to initial reports, Vartak died of a heart attack, police said.

Following the government’s decision to scrap the Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, there has been a huge rush outside the banks since yesterday and also at the ATMs today residents anxious to withdraw some money to meet their daily expenses were seen standing in serpentine queues.

Police patrolling is being done and beat marshals are deployed outside the banks and the ATM centres to avoid any untoward incident and control the crowd wherever necessary.

(Agencies)

Chandigarh: All Opposition Congress MLAs today submitted their resignation to the Punjab Assembly Secretary here today to protest the Supreme Court’s ruling favouring Haryana on the SYL issue.

State Congress chief Amarinder Singh, meanwhile, launched a fresh attack on Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, alleging Badal has “failed to protect the interest” of the people and announced that his party will take out a rally on the issue on Sunday.

The 42 MLAs, including leader of Opposition Charanjit Singh Channi, Sunil Jakhar, Sukhjinder Randhawa and Balbir Singh Sidhu, went to the Assembly here and submitted their resignations to Assembly Secretary Shashi Lakhanpal Mishra as Speaker Charanjit Singh Atwal was not present.

Senior Congress leaders, including Amarinder Singh, Partap Singh Bajwa and Ambika Soni accompanied the MLAs. “I will submit the resignations to the Speaker. He will see whether to accept them or not,” Mishra said.

A Congress spokesperson denied reports in a section of the media that they have submitted the resignations to the Governor.

Speaking to mediapersons, Amarinder said, “I am not in Parliament and our MLAs are not in Vidhan Sabha. We will go to the people. We are going to burn the effigies of the government for not protecting Punjab’s rights.”

“We will hold a rally at the tail-end of the canal system in southernmost part of Punjab on Sunday, which will be affected (by the verdict),” he said.

Hitting out at Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal, the state Congress chief asked, “Why is Badal not protecting Punjab’s interests? Is it because he has made a lot of money and doesn’t care what happens in his area?”

The water dispute assumed a new dimension with the Supreme Court yesterday holding as unconstitutional the 2004 law passed by Punjab to terminate the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal water sharing agreement with neighboring states.

“All the questions have been answered in the negative,” a five-judge bench headed by Justice A R Dave said, while pronouncing its decision on the Presidential reference.

The judgement makes it clear that the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act, 2004 is “unconstitutional” and Punjab could not have taken a “unilateral” decision to terminate the water sharing agreement with Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, Delhi and Chandigarh.

The bench, which also included Justices P C Ghose, Shiva Kirti Singh, A K Goel and Amitava Roy, was unanimous in holding that all the five questions of Presidential reference have to be answered in the negative.

The judgement implies that the 2004 Act was not in consonance with the apex court judgement of 2003 which had mandated the construction of the SYL canal that was stalled.

(Agencies)