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New Delhi: The government has directed airlines to ensure tickets issued using the now-withdrawn Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes directly from counters at airports are “non-refundable” following an unusual surge in such bookings.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. PTINotes 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: JaitleyNew Delhi: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley has denied any move to digitise personal lockers in banks. “Completely factually incorrect, no such proposal,” he said.