A day after Samajwadi Party chie Mulayam Singh Yadav pleaded that demonetisation of high value currency notes be put off by a week, his son and Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav demanded that private hospitals, nursing homes and pharmacies be allowed to accept old currency till November 30 so that ‘the poor and common people could get treatment’.
In a letter to PM Narendra Modi and Union Finance minister Arun Jaitely, the CM said that after demonetisation of currency the poor are suffering as they are not getting medical treatment in private hospitals and nursing homes. He said that they were also facing problem in purchasing medicines from pharmacies.
“I would request you to allow private hospitals and nursing homes to accept old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1000. The deadline should be extended up to November 30,” he wrote in the letter, which was released to the media on Friday.
The CM had objected to the demonetisation of currency terming that it would hit the poor hard. He demanded that the transition from old currency to the new ones should be smooth. On Thursday he issued directives asking banks to have special counters for foreign tourists.
The demonetisation issue also found mention at a function at Raj Bhawan where Governor Ram Naik’s book ‘Charaivety- Charaivety’ was released. The compere announced that the book has been put on sale and because of `currency’ crisis the book could be bought using debit and credit cards.
The CM too took a jibe at the function and referringto Union Home minister Rajnath Singh said that if people sitting on the dais agree then these books could be sold against old currency.
In fact, Governor Ram Naik too had supported demonetisation of high value currency.