Mamata Banerjee govt panel will keep account of note ban ‘losses’

Kolkata: The Mamata Banerjee government has constituted a high powered committee headed by chief secretary Basudeb Banerjee to keep a stock of the losses incurred in the various departments that cater to day-to-day services of the common people in the wake of the  demonetisation decision of the Central government.

“The committee that comprises of 14 senior IAS officers have been instructed to keep liaison with the district magistrates  and maintain details of the problems faced by the people and the losses that the various departments are suffering  due to the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. The chief secretary will accordingly take up the matter with the centre,” a senior official at the state secretariat Nabanna said.

A control room has also been set up inside the disaster management department at Nabanna and instructions have been given at the district level to provide information related to problems faced by demonetisation. The control room is headed by a senior IAS officer and three other officers. “ The district magistrate’s have been directed on Thursday to start a control room in their district so that common people can share their problems regarding demonetisation. The district will report to this control room so that we can provide regular feedback to the chief secretary,”  the official added.   This control room will be operational till November 22.

State co operation minister Aroop Roy has written to the centre to allow the cooperative banks exchange Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes as the Rabi and the Boro crop season is fast approaching. “The farmers require money to buy seeds for cultivation,” Mr. Roy wrote in his letter.

Meanwhile, CGM of  SBI’s Bengal circle Partho Pratim Sengupta said on Friday that the bank has tied up with public sector petrol pumps IOC and BPCL for withdrawal of money through point of sales (POS) machines.” 182 petrol pumps in the state would provide the facility to start with and would continue till the situation normalises,” he said.

SBI has pressed into service three mobile ATM vans from which customers would be able to withdraw money.