Demonetisation biggest scam: Chidambaram

Mumbai: Former Finance Minister P Chidambaram on Tuesday raised hard-hitting questions on demonetisation that has led to severe cash crunch in country and landed general public in endless queues outside banks and teller machine kiosks.

Chidambaram while speaking to mediapersons said that ban on specified or high value notes was the biggest scam of 2016 and must be subject to a complete probe.

"How come people who have been raided by agencies have been found in possession of new Rs 2,000 notes?" Chidambaram asked.

He elaborated that 45 crore people in country depend on daily income and of that 15 crore people depend on wage income. He also questioned why government is saying people can withdraw Rs 24,000 a week when banks are saying they have no money?

Chidambaram added that due to demonetisation Indian economy is staring at a negative growth and most of the experts are projecting a 1-2 per cent negative growth. "There are only 1,500 ATMs in 6 northeastern states. How can people survive there as there is no money?" he asked.

And if people are not protesting it does not mean that they support the note ban, he said.