Correspondent
Silchar, Jan 8: Members of Silchar District Congress Committee (DCC) staged a demonstration to protest the Centre’s decision to demonetize high value currency notes and its impact on the country’s economy before the statue of Khudiram Bose at Club Road of this town on Saturday. They also brought a number of allegations against Prime Minister rendra Modi. Members of the Committee slammed Prime Minister rendra Modi for taking such a hasty decision. Addressing the large gathering assembled at Club Road, Sushmita Dev, MP, said, “BJP government is only catering to the needs of the richer sections of the society. Prime Minister rendra Modi ensured that the problems that have been created due to the banning of notes of high denomition would be solved in 50 days. But problems continue to exist even after 50 days.”
“The Prime Minister’s overnight decision to ban notes has fractured the backbone of our country’s economy. Demonetization has brought good days only for the rich people. 50 days of demonetization have seen tragic deaths of over 115 innocent individuals,” said Ataur Rahman Mazarbhuiya, former MLA. Later, the Committee submitted a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister rendra Modi through the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar. They brought some allegations against corruption and demonetization and asked for conducting an independent enquiry, and demanded compensation for recouping the losses suffered by demonetization. Along with the demand for a free and fair enquiry against the Prime Minister, five other demands were mentioned in the memorandum.
Congress demanded that all restrictions on withdrawal of money be lifted with immediate effect and till the time these restrictions are in place, a special interest at the rate of 18% per annum should be given to all bank account holders and all charges on digital transactions should be abolished forthwith. Further, they demanded that the rate of rations distributed under the PDS system be halved for a period of one year under the provisions of the Food Security Act. In addition, the government should provide a special one-time bonus of 20% over and above the minimum support price (MSP) of all Rabi crops.
In addition to this, the Committee demanded that Rs.25000 should be deposited in the account of at least one woman belonging to each BPL family as compensation for the immense suffering caused to women due to demonetization and the number of guaranteed work days and the wage rate under MGNREGA should be doubled for a period of one year. The government should organize a special drive to identify and register all those who have lost their jobs since November 8, 2016, and provide them compensation at the applicable minimum wage rate for a period extending till March 31, 2017.
It has been also stated in the memorandum that an income tax and sales tax rebate of 50% should be given to small shopkeepers and businesses for one year. The Central government should compensate the State governments for the loss of revenue incurred because of this exemption. Among others present at the time of submission of the memorandum included, Sushmita Dev, MP, Karnendu Bhattacharjee, president and Kishore Bhattacharjee, general secretary, of Silchar District Congress Committee, Ajit Singh, former minister, Ataur Rahman Mazarbhuiya, former MLA, and Rumi th, MLA.