Visually impaired Tamil Nadu couple find savings of Rs 24,000 in demonetised currencies

Erode: A visually impaired couple making a living by selling incense sticks in this district were shocked to learn their hard-earned cash savings of Rs 24,000 was worthless, being in Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 notes demonetised nearly four years ago.

Somu (58) of remote Pothiya Moopanure village claimed he came to know about the scrapping of the high-value currency notes in November 2016 only on Friday when he took the savings of him and his wife Palaniammal to deposit in a bank.

They chose to tap the reserve, kept with the man’s illiterate mother, as they could not make earnings in the last four months owing to Covid-19 lockdown, he told reporters on Saturday.

Somu had taken the cash to a bank for depositing when the officials there told him that the notes were demonetised.

He said the money was saved by him and his wife over ten years from the sale of incense sticks and camphor in nearby Anthiyur and surrounding areas.

Every week, he used to handover some money with his mother living with them and she kept it carefully. On a regular interval, he used to convert the cash into Rs 500 or Rs 1,000, he said.

All the three were not aware of the demonetisation of Rs 1,000 and Rs 5,000 currencies, he maintained.

Somu said he has sent a memorandum to Tamil Nadu Chief Minister K Palaniswami to help his family.

Police said they would inquire into the matter.

In a similar case last year, two elderly sisters in neighbouring Tirupur district found their live-time savings of Rs 46,000 were in the demonetised Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes.

However, District Collector K Vijayakarthikeyan played the role of a good samaritan and had arranged for an old-age pension for Thangammal (78) and Rangammal (75).