Bengaluru: Treading with caution on Prime Minister Narendra Modi's decision to demonetize Rs 1000 and Rs 500 notes, Chief Minister Siddaramaiah on Friday said the state government was not against such measures or steps to curb black money, but criticized the Union government for lack of preparatory measures.
He told the media here the state government was truly supportive of steps to curb black money in the market.

“But the Union government should have ensured adequate stock of other currency notes so that farmers, petty businessmen, and the poor do not suffer. Now, they are adversely affected by demonetisation of notes of higher denomination,” he added.

The Chief Minister also disclosed that he wrote twice to Union finance minister, Arun Jaitely, about inconvenience caused to the common man, but did not receive any response to both the letters.

Listing problems faced by people belonging to different sections of the society, he said “Patients visiting private hospitals are also affected most as hospitals are not accepting old Rs 500 and 1000 currency notes. And farmers have not been able to repay their loans borrowed from co-operative banks as these banks are not accepting Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes.”

Leaders of the Youth Congress have staged protests against the decision to demonetize currency as the move had triggered chaos at banks with anxious customers waiting several hours to either exchange notes or withdraw cash from their accounts.

Panel: probe siphoning of scheme money
An audit panel appointed by the state government to probe illegal stashing of money released to Karnataka under central sponsored schemes has recommended a further probe to rule out siphoning of money outside the 108 bank accounts, said Rural Development and Panchayat Raj Minister H K Patil.

Talking to reporters on Friday, he said a committee headed by Mr Punati Sridhar, an IAS officer was constituted after the department received information about illegal stashing of money in accounts.

The Sridhar Committee found that Rs 1335.89 crore had been stationed in 1128 accounts of banks. In Syndicate Bank alone, Rs 495.89 crore had been stashed in a dummy account by BWSSB. For further investigation, the government appointed an audit panel headed by Mr B.N. Shivarudrappa.

The committee backed findings of the Sridhar Committee. Expanding the ambit of the probe, the Cabinet decided to probe funds received by the state from the Centre from April 1, 2009 to March 31, 2015.