Goa-based NGO criticises demonetisation

"The shopkeepers ask the buyer to go for bigger purchase to exhaust the Rs 500 note," she said.

Panaji, Nov 22: A Goa-based NGO has criticised the government's demonetisation move while alleging that it has badly hurt the downtrodden segment in the coastal state. "What we see on the ground is that the sufferers are lower middle class and poor people who are now finding their own Rs 500 note as a curse. They are being driven away from one place to another," NGO Savera chief Tara Kerkar said addressing a press conference here.

"The shopkeepers ask the buyer to go for bigger purchase to exhaust the Rs 500 note," she said. "This is severely impacting the people at grassroot level. The informal sector has been hit tremendously. The labour class hasn't benefitted from this decision, they are being looted or harassed," Kerkar said distributing copies of the letter by the NGO addressed to the Prime Minister.

Savera has been active in social field of Goa for last three decades. "During our social work, we come across thousands of downtrodden people who belong to the lower ebb of economic hierarchy. As a facilitator between government and the people, we are in regular touch with them," she said.

"We seriously do admire your bold step of demonetisation, but the end result of it, what we see on the street is depressing," the NGO said. "As a common man and the person who is working with the masses, I find this idea as totally wrong. We see no sense in black money being controlled with the introduction of Rs 2,000 note," Kerkar said. As economists say, it is not the currency which is black originally, but the person who owns it without paying tax makes it black, she added.

PTI