Activists of the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) and Students Federation of India (SFI) performed the last rites for ATMs in Telangana’s Khammam. The reason? They were protesting the poor flow of liquid cash in the state after demonetisation and wanted to highlight the plight of people suffering from a shortage of cash.
The protestors hired a priest and brought all the necessary items needed to perform the last rites of the ATMs.
“The people of Khammam are still suffering from the mindless decision taken by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. It has been over 500 days since demonetisation was announced, and yet ATMs are running dry here,” DYFI district Secretary S K Basheer told TNM.
“Nothing has changed. It is now evident that the objectives of demonetisation wasn’t achieved either. So to highlight the plight of the people, who are forced to wait in long queues and run from one ATM to the next, we did this protest,” he added.
Speaking to TNM, SFI state joint secretary P Nagaraju, who also participated in the protest, said that Khammam is still reeling under the effects of demonitisation. “It has been more than a year since the disaster of demonitisation took place in the country. What has it achieved except for ruining the well-performing economy, killing hundreds of people and leaving scores of others in the unorganized sector unemployed? Instead of cashless economy, we have become no cash economy,” he remarked.
An agitated Nagaraju added, “The gimmick to win the Uttar Pradesh elections has ruined the lives of many. Its impact is still felt. Every day to get some liquid cash, people are running around ATMs, only to be disappointed. The cash crunch is so severe that people are literally spending one hour in search of money by visiting at least 10-15 ATMs.”
He also alleged that there is a surplus of cash in the states where elections are being held, while Telangana still continues to face the demonitisation heat.
Meanwhile, to replenish the cash in the state, banks are reportedly shipping cash from the neighbouring states of Kerala and Maharashtra.