Kashmir sees rush to banks

People in Kashmir are faced with a lot of problems as demonetisation has triggered fears and chaos among the general people, especially in the rural areas. In rural Kashmir, reports said that people have huge cash available from horticulture and agriculture produce, but most elderly people do not have bank accounts.

In rural Kashmir, most of the farmers and orchardists have the habit of hoarding money in their homes and have little links with banks and financial institutions.

The main local bank, the Jammu and Kashmir Bank, is mulling to go for a massive campaign in rural Kashmir to open accounts of all such people who still do not have this privilege.

As the government has announced 200% penalty on cash deposits over Rs 2.50 lakh, this has triggered panic among the village elders that they may be caught by Income Tax authorities if they disclose huge amounts of cash to the bank authorities.

The problem is manifold in rural Kashmir where because of the current unrest, most of the banks do not operate their branches because of security reasons. State Bank of India, Punjab National Bank and other such prominent banks have virtually closed their operations in rural areas of Kashmir, especially in South Kashmir in the current unrest. Huge amounts of cash are to be deposited in these rural areas of Kashmir and the continuous shutdown is creating a chaos.