DeMo ruined us, say kin of those who died

Chandigarh, “Was it all done to get rid of elderly people?” Gurdial Singh asks.
Till December 5 last year, neither had he known what black money was nor had he heard the word notebandi. But it snatched away his father, Malook Singh, a 65-year-old ex-serviceman. He had gone to get his pension, but passed away while standing in a queue outside a bank at Chabal in Tarn Taran district.
He was among several elderly persons who passed away while standing in a queue. Most of their relatives call it a bluff, played out by the government on its people. Within a month of demonetisation, at least 11 persons lost their lives in Punjab.
Malook Singh’s monthly pension of Rs7,000 was a great help to his family, which is now struggling for everyday survival. His pension would fund the education of Gurdial’s two children and took care of other household expenses. “My mother had passed away earlier. And after my father’s death, pension was stopped,” says Gurdial, a daily-wager. He works in Cheema Kalan village.
Similarly, Satpal Bali, an 82-year-old retired Subedar from the Border Security Force (BSF) was at an SBI branch at Maqsudan in Jalandhar on November 30. After a long wait, he was told that cash was unavailable. Distraught, he collapsed.
Satpal’s son Rohit Bali says, “I was an auto-rickshaw driver at that time and didn’t have resources to take the Modi government to court. Otherwise, I would have taken legal action.”
Ten months later, he is a vegetable vendor. He has several questions for the Modi government. “What did they get by harassing the elderly and the poor? The Modi government deceived its own citizens. No government has done this before,” he bitterly says.
Apart from death, the newspapers after mid-November carried reports about elderly people falling sick while standing in queues outside banks. Besides pensioners and elderly, the brunt of demonetisation was borne by people who had family functions — especially weddings and last rites — scheduled soon after November 8.