Centre move spells trouble for old age home inmates

New Delhi: For 82-year-old D.S. Jain, the demonetisation drive has been a nightmare as he has not been able to buy his medicines for want of adequate money. A retired railway officer, Mr Jain has neither been able to get his old currency notes exchanged nor has he been able to withdraw money from ATMs. The main reason for this is that his health does not permit him to stand for long hours in serpentine queues outside banks and ATMs to get his money.

“All this is happening because the government had not made adequate preparations in banks and ATMs,” Mr Jain, who lives in an old age home at Karkardooma, said. He has not been able to buy his essentials as he has not been able to exchange his old notes.

“We are around 16 inmates here in this old age home; some of them are bedridden while others can barely walk. Only three or four of us are able to walk and queue up to exchange money or to withdraw money from ATMs. I give some money to my fellow inmates so that they can also buy the daily essentials,” said Mr Jain.

While praising the government’s demonetisation drive against black money, the retired officer, however, slammed them for poor planning. “The government should have recalibrated the ATMs and banking infrastructure before taking such a bold decision. I went to around 10 ATMs and hardly one or two ATMs are functioning in our locality,” he added.

Another senior citizen, on the condition of anonymity, said that the shopkeepers are refusing him medicine or other items despite him having the new Rs 2,000 notes.