By Amiya Kumar Kushwaha
New Delhi, Nov 9 (IANS) With ATMs shut after the demonetisation move, the ripple effect was felt among the city's lawyers community too, some of whom had to borrow small change from their children and friends to reach the court complexes while some even took money from their children's piggy banks.
Advocate M.S. Khan told IANS that he borrowed three notes of Rs 100 and some Rs 10, 20 and 50 rupee notes from his three children so that he could reach the court premises and do his work.
"Generally we have notes of either Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 with us. I did not have any single note of Rs 100 or other notes of smaller value," Khan told IANS.
The government on Tuesday night declared that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes have been demonetised from midnight, in an effort to fight black money.
Khan said: "As Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced that Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes would not be legal tender after midnight on Tuesday and ATMs will remain closed for two days, I requested my children early this morning to give me some notes of small value which I had given them earlier as pocket money."
Khan said he profusely thanked his children for saving from their pocket money which helped him reach the court.
Another lawyer S.P.M. Tripathy also borrowed money from his son.
"I had notes of Rs 500 or Rs 1,000 only, so I asked my son to give me some money," Tripathy told IANS.
He was thankful for having a 'gullak" (piggy bank) in the house, and said that finally the saving of coins and notes of small value helped them manage the day.
Another lawyer said that he borrowed money from his friend to reach the court complex.
"When I saw a huge crowd outside the ATMs last night I requested my friend to give me some notes of Rs 100, 50, 20 and 10," the lawyer said.
Even the court staff who did not want to be quoted said that money deposited in the home piggy banks and savings by their children helped them reach the court premises as they are also in the habit of keeping big notes in their wallets.
One of the court staff said the sudden announcement of demonetising Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes and ATMs being shut for two days created problems in the morning as it became difficult for him to purchase bread and butter.
Despite the difficulty, court staff as well as lawyers welcomed the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes and said it will help in curbing black money.
"People who have collected huge amounts and hide it in safe places to evade taxes will face problems. The steps will help in checking the huge unaccounted amounts," a lawyer who did not want to be quoted told IANS.
"For us, it is a problem for a day or two as the ATMs will remain closed, but soon after the ATMs start functioning smoothly, everything will come back on track," a court staff said.
Recalling Tuesday night's chaos, one staffer said: "Did you ever see long queues outside ATMs before last night."
People in the court complexes were seen discussing about the demonetisation of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes.
(Amiya Kumar Kushwaha can be contacted at amiya.k@ians.in)
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