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| Jammu running out of money | | | Nirbhay Jammual
Is some of the tribe alive in Jammu where the cash crunch has begun giving sleepless nights to people? .Number of families have exhausted whatever cash they had in their houses and could draw from the ATMs. Now the ATMs stand shut, some owing to threat from protesters and others on account of failure of the bank authorities in feeding these ATMs with currency notes. A number of bank officials have confessed that some bank branches have remained "cashless" during the last one fortnight when the number of depositers declined to a trickle. Even those who had the capacity of deposting money had failed to do so when the banks remained closed for all these days. Imagine the plight of those families where wedding ceremonies are to take place from October onwards. They have already reserved wedding halls.
Many among them wish to wait for another ten days and if the turmoil in the state did not end they may either postpone the wedding dates or opt for a place outside the state for solemnising the marriage ceremonies. Those who receive monthly salaries through cheques or bank drafts from the companies and establishments from outside the state
face a bigger problem. Neither the cheques have been delivered to them by the post offices and the courier agencies nor they have been able to deposit them in the banks and ensure their clearance during the last 50 days. Many among the middle class families had no other alternative but to borrow money from their neighbours, friends and relations but they cannot ask for more when they have no means to repay the earlier sums.
Had not the times changed money lenders could have made a roaring business. These money lenders used to operate in various parts of the state. They have been compared to leeches sucking blood from their clients. But the cash starved families would have preferred to bank on these "leeches" to being forced to knock the doors of unhelpful people. There were a large number of families which had kept some money for paying power, telephone and mobile bills. They have spent the money on meeting the day to day needs of the family members. They do not know whether the power supply will be snapped or not. They have no knowledge whether their phone connection will be snapped or not.
The worst sufferers have been maid servants, who are engaged on temporary basis. For the last over 50 days these maid servants, engaged for washing clothes and utensils and for sweeping rooms, have not been able to attend to their duties because of shut down in transport services. They are in tears as they used to be the main bread winners for their family members. See the fate of the daily wagers. They have lost their jobs. They have no money. Another section of people who continue to suffer are beggars and mendicants. These mendicants used to throng the places of worship for alms. They would receive the alms in cash and kind. For the last 50 days their number has drastically thinned. Only those who are able to foot the route to the shrines are seen in the morning hours seeking alms.
Loss of land has resulted in loss in every sector of activity. It is loss for the traders and transporters. It is loss for wayside vendors, eating shops. It is loss for hotels. Loss for holidayers. But it is gain for the separatists and their overground supporters who feeel
that that the situation has become favourable for them for further internationlising the Kashmir issue.They neither feel the pinch of the cash crunch nor do they bother about the problems people face in the state because of the turmoil over land. They have money, energy and time for raking up new issues. |
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