Vijayawada: AP finance minister Yanamala Ramakrishnudu has urged Union finance minister Arun Jaitley to allow farmers and patients to pay their loan instalments and medical bills till the on-going crisis is addressed.

In a letter to Mr Jaitley, Mr Ramakrishnudu urged him to direct the SBI to send more of new notes and also Rs 100 notes to Grameena Banks, and also sought a direction from him to pharmacies and private and corporate hospitals to accept the old notes.

While welcoming the Union Government’s move to cancel the legal tender character of high denomination notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 issued by RBI, the AP finance minister urged the Union finance minister to ensure sufficient quantum of low denomination notes of Rs 100 and Rs 50 to be made available by the RBI.

Since the ATMs are not calibrated to dispense the new notes, Mr Ramakrishn-udu added, “Since Rs 100 notes are not supplied in required quantities, it has become all the more essential to ensure the availability of Rs 50 notes,” he observed.

While making a special mention about the poor supply mechanism of RBI, Mr Ramakrishnudu said that overall supply of cash by the RBI to all cash chests was falling short of demand, especially in rural branches.

“As most of the cash chests are with the State Bank of India (SBI), it is important that SBI takes care of supplies to Grammena Bank branches,” he said, adding that it was not being done as anticipated.

Farmers and others in rural areas want to repay their loans using sale proceeds of their agriculture produce in the old notes, said Mr Ramakrishnudu and added that banks were not accepting these notes. “If relaxation is given in this regard, a large number of farmers will get relief,” he suggested.

There are also complaints that private hospitals and pharmacies are not accepting the old higher denomination notes, stated Mr Ramakrishnudu in his letter to Mr Jaitley and he added that patients too were facing difficulties in purchasing medicines and in settling their medical bills. “Exemption may be given to these transactions too,” Mr Ramakrishnudu requested.