The Goan Network
PANAJI
By announcing that old Rs 500 notes will not be acceptable at petrol pumps from the midnight of December 2, the central government has made things extremely complicated for petrol pumps, which as it is, are finding it very tough to arrange cash to be given as change to customers.
At the same time, the supply of new Rs 500 notes is way below the demand making petrol pump dealers run helter-skelter to arrange change, when customers show the new Rs 2,000 note.
A dealer from Panaji informed, “I went to a bank and I was told that they had only Rs 2,000 notes. Another bank had new Rs 500 notes, but only a few of them. Due to this, we expect that there will be chaos at petrol pumps.”
The central government had earlier allowed petrol pumps to accept old Rs 500 notes till December 15. But, suddenly, on December 1, it said that such notes will no longer be acceptable at petrol pumps from midnight of December 2.
The liquidity has improved in Goa, but not as much as people need. Another dealer informed, “The supply of Rs 100 notes has increased. That has helped us to an extent. But, the supply of these notes has to increase significantly now that old Rs 500 notes are not acceptable.”
Ever since demonetisation was announced on November 8, old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes formed as much as 98 per cent of collections at most petrol-pumps. Last week, the government barred the use of old Rs 1,000 notes at petrol-pumps.
Dealers, however, still didn’t face much problem, as old Rs 500 notes were still acceptable. But that’s not going to be the case anymore.
