Girja Shankar Kaura
Tribune News Service
New Delhi, November 10
Looking to dispel fear among people
who would probably have small sums of cash in denomination of the scrapped Rs
500 and Rs 1,000 notes lying at home, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley today
clarified that “nobody would be harassed” over smaller deposits, less than Rs
2.5 lakh in their bank accounts.
The clarification came even as
Economic Affairs Secretary Shaktikanta Das announced that currency notes of Rs
1,000 will be reintroduced in next few months with a new dimension, design and
security features.
Besides, the Rs 1,000 newly-designed
notes, the government would soon come out with new Rs 50 and Rs 100 notes,
having new design and security features. The new notes would be issued without
withdrawing the existing ones.
As people began thronging banks
nationwide to exchange or deposit Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes that were
demonetised on Tuesday night, Jaitley, speaking at the Economic Editors’
Conference, asserted: “Nobody will face questions or harassment for small
deposits. It is only those with large amounts of undisclosed money who will
have to face the consequences under existing laws.”
He said people might face problems
initially but in the long run they would definitely benefit from the policy of
scrapping large currency notes in a bid to curb corruption, unaccounted wealth
and terror financing.
The new Rs 500 notes, which will be
issued by banks from Friday, have extra security features, besides having a
peculiar colour, theme and size which differentiate the new bills from the
earlier series. The Rs 2,000 notes, which are being introduced for the first
time, are in magenta colour with Mangalyaan imprinted on the reverse
side.
The Rs 500 notes will be stone grey
in colour with a predominant new theme of the Indian heritage site Red Fort.
Air tickets made‘non-refundable’
New Delhi: The government has
directed airlines to ensure tickets issued using the now-withdrawn Rs 500 and
Rs 1,000 notes directly from counters at airports are “non-refundable”
following an unusual surge in such bookings. Some airlines have announced that
tickets booked in the last 48 hours using old notes will not be refunded or
cancelled. PTI
Notes can be used to pay utility
bills, tax
New Delhi: The Centre has said old
Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes can be used to pay utility bills, taxes, penalty and
fees to central and state governments till midnight of November 11.
Bank lockers won’t be digitised:
Jaitley
New Delhi: Finance Minister Arun
Jaitley has denied any move to digitise personal lockers in banks. “Completely
factually incorrect, no such proposal,” he said.
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