Kerala government will give Rs two lakh solatium each to next of kin of four persons who died standing in queues in front of banks and ATMs, during the time of demonetisation.

The decision was taken in the cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

“Families of four people will get the benefit of the decision who died while standing in the queue before ATMs and banks to exchange demonetised notes for the new ones,” said a press statement.

Sixty-eight-year-old Chandrasekharan, a native of Kollam, 75-year-old Karthikeyan of Alappuzha, PP Pareeth of Tirur in Malappuram and 48-year-old KK Unni of Kannur, lost their lives while standing in queues to exchange old Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes.  

From the beginning, the Kerala government had taken a hard stand against demonetisation, criticizing the Centre’s decision. 

There were reports that demonetisation had adversely affected the state government, which was already struggling to fund expenses due to shortage of cash. 

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had said that demonetisation was a thoughtless act and it failed to achieve its desired goals.

He even said that demonetisation is a man-made disaster. 

Kerala Finance Minister Thomas Isaac described the Centre’s decision as a national calamity and said that almost all sectors of the economy will be affected by demonetisation. 

He had said that, "even if you take two per cent decline in Gross Domestic Product, it means a loss of production of Rs 2.5 lakh crore."