At Uttarakhand’s biggest industrial area, changed currency acceptance deadline halts goods transport

RUDRAPUR: The sudden decision to bring forward the last date for accepting old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes at petrol pumps from December 15 to December 2 has played havoc with the transport schedules of many industrial units based in Rudrapur. Factory managers at the State Industrial Development Corporation of Uttarakhand Ltd (SIDCUL)-owned Pantnagar industrial estate said that hundreds of their trucks, whose drivers had been given the old Rs 500 notes for fuel expenses would now be stuck, thereby hampering the movement of goods and disrupting production schedules.
The entrepreneurs said that admissibility of old notes at fuel pumps had been a relief to them, but the changed deadline had dropped them in fresh trouble. Industrialists said that hundreds of trucks are at present on their way to destinations across the country. Drivers who have been paid in old notes will be forced to stop where they are, which will devastate the functioning of the factories.
President of SIDCUL Entrepreneurs’ Welfare Society, Ajay Tiwari, said the changed deadline had left industries in the lurch. “Drivers tend to take some money in advance to reach their destinations. They had been paid in scrapped notes since all of us thought the notes would be exchanged at petrol pumps on the way. Now the deadline has been brought forward and the trucks will be stranded wherever they have reached on their routes,” he added.
Vikas Narang, owner of Shri Vinayak Transport, operating at the Pantnagar estate, told TOI that more than 25 trucks from his firm are on their way to different destinations of North-east Indian states. "The sudden change in deadline for accepting old notes has left us with no options. The drivers of all these vehicles were paid in old Rs 500 notes. The latest decision by the Centre will leave the drivers stranded wherever they are,” he said.
Jawahar Malik, another transporter from SIDCUL Pantnagar, said that they had set trucks’ schedules based on the earlier deadline. The new deadline has hit the transporters, already reeling under the currency crisis, even harder, as no driver was ready to start for a new destination without new or legitimate currency in hand. "It has not only impeded the already suffering business but is hurting all industrial units,” added Malik.
Saral Patel, general manager of Automart, a company with a plant at Pantnagar, said the government should have stuck to its earlier decision. “Denying old currency at fuel pumps, despite earlier announcements, will destroy the industrial sector. Cargo sent from or two other factories will be stranded where they are. It is a double blow: neither will the goods be delivered on time, nor can the old notes be exchanged,” he added.