Lift restrictions on cash withdrawals immediately, CPI-M asks government

New Delhi, Dec. 30: The CPI-M on Friday asked the government to immediately remove restrictions on cash withdrawals as the 50-day window sought by Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expired.

“Since the deadline of December 30 is over, all restrictions on the withdrawal of money by people from their own hard-earned money in the banks must be removed forthwith,” the Communist Party of India Marxist (CPI-M) said in a statement. It said that since the demonetisation has pushed the “beleaguered and stumbling Indian economy into a tailspin causing immense misery to the poor and the downtrodden” who survive on daily cash earnings, and hence some “corrective steps” need to be taken by the government.
The party has demanded immediate debt waiver for farmers, doubling the allocation for MNREGA to ensure 100 days of employment for all those who are enrolled, tax rebate to small and medium enterprises whose economic activity has suffered and removal of all restrictions on deposits and withdrawals of funds from the cooperative banks.

“This demonetisation will lead to a significant revenue loss in many states. To address this crucial issue, the Centre must compensate the state governments for the loss in revenue that they are incurring and the borrowing ceiling on the state governments in accordance to the FRBM Act must be raised form 3-4 per cent of the Gross State Domestic Product,” it said.

The CPI-M said that since the Prime Minister is constantly emphasising on the need to shift to a cashless economy, it is necessary to ensure that people are not burdened with additional costs and all costs on digital transactions should be removed.