By Dalip Singh

New Delhi, Nov 20 (DHNS): Alarmed by reports about cash shortage in the villages, Prime Minister Narendra Modi is sending out senior bureaucrats to assess the ground situation.

On Saturday, he said teams should fan out into the hinterland, gauge the problem for two days, and submit a report by November 25.

On his instructions, cabinet secretary Pradeep Kumar Sinha has short-listed names — from the ranks of deputy secretaries and additional secretaries — to visit 29 states and seven Union Territories, a senior official told DH.

Bigger states like Uttar Pradesh get three officials, while Union Territories get one each. Other states get two officials each. The teams will tour the villages, interact with people and the authorities, and provide direct feedback to the cabinet secretariat.

The Prime Minister’s Office will rely on the information thus gathered to tackle what the Supreme Court has described as a crisis that could trigger riots. 

The extended date for accepting old notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 denominations for utility payments ends on November 24. 

Interestingly, a conference at the DRDO auditorium on Saturday, to sensitise senior government officials on the Goods Service Tax (GST), was interrupted by Rajiv Kumar, establishment officer of the department of personnel and training, to announce Sinha’s decision. Sinha was present at the conference.

SOS from states

A Central minister said the government had received distress messages from states like Maharastra, Kerala and Odisha, detailing problems encountered by people, farmers and traders because of low penetration of the banking system in rural areas.  

Denying the situation was as alarming as was being projected, the minister admitted wholesale transactions had slowed down across the country.

Besides the opposition, the Supreme Court and the Kolkata High Court have come down heavily on the Centre after hearing about people standing in queues for hours outside banks and ATMs.

The Union home ministry has directed the intelligence agencies to keep an eye outside banks, as it fears harried people might be incited to riot.

Intelligence inputs suggest things may spiral out of hand in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, where the ruling parties are openly criticising the government for failing to alleviate the sufferings of citizens. The Intelligence Bureau has alerted their state units and spotters have fanned out in troublesome districts as the Modi government can ill afford a backlash ahead of Assembly polls in five states.