Contrary to the long term positive results, the adverse effects of demonetization are hitting people every day in one or other form. Starting with the protests organized by the opposition parties, log queues in ATMs the issue took its wings and even ending up taking lives.
A Father failed to exchange his Rs 29,000 which are in the old 500 and 1000 denomination notes, the walked 30 kms carrying his son on his shoulders to reach the nearest medical facility in Mansar, as the van driver refused to take the old notes. Finally, time took away his son’s life. This saddening moment took place in Jammu and Kashmir.
Mohammad Haroon, 28, belonging to the nomadic Bakerwal community claims that the had enough money to save his son, but the van driver refused to accept the old currency notes. He further blames the two J&K branches claiming that the bank managers refused to exchange his money even though he was in urgency.
Muneer, a class II student and a 9 years old boy, died Friday night. Samba district magistrate Sheetal Nanda has sought a report on what he went though. Sub naib tehsildar Kuldeep Raj Goran police post in-charge Nanak Chand visited Haroon and recorded his statement.
Contrary to the father’s statements, Nanda said that the issue of exchanging the currency notes at the bank is not the reason behind the kid’s death.
Haroon stated that his son fell ill on November 14th and they started treating him by offering black tea mixed with local herbs. As this kind of treatment didn’t fetch good results, Haroon decided to take his son to Mansar but soon recognized that he had only 100 or 150 rupees despite the 29,000 rupees that are in old 500 and 1000 denominations. Haroon trekked 8 km to J&K Bank in Khoon, failed to exchange his money he spent his little available change money traveling to J&K Branch in Ramkote. However, he ended up failing there too.
On November 18 afternoon, Haroon lifted Muneer on his shoulders and began the walk again. Accompanied by his wife, he trekked 9 km on hilly terrain before reaching the road at Khoon around 8 pm.
Haroon said “we came across a van driver and requested him to take us to Mansar. He asked for Rs 1,000 and we agreed, but when I showed him my Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes, he refused. So we decided to walk a shorter route through forests”.
On Saturday, the worried couple reached Dr. Manik Chand, a doctor in Mansar . The doctor declared the boy already dead.
Meanwhile, both the branch managers countered Haroon saying that they had enough money for exchange and withdrawal.
“We are still going home at 10-10:30 pm,” said Raman Gupta, J&K Bank Branch manager in Khoon. He said they have disbursed nearly Rs 30 lakh and collected Rs 3 crore during the last 10 days.
Rajinder Kumar, manager of Ramkote branch said that they have been disbursing Rs 8-10 lakh a day despite theirs being a small branch. “Had he come to us, we would have exchanged his old currency notes in view of his urgency,” he said, an assertion made by Gupta too.