New Rs 500, 2000 notes: Currency ink, silver thread supplier same for Pakistan, says Asaduddin Owaisi

Hyderabad: AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi on Tuesday claimed that the supplier of ink and silver threads used in currency notes is the same for India and Pakistan, and sought to know what was government's strategy to deal with it.

"The ink and silver thread supplier is supplying the same thing to Pakistan as well. So, what is the government going to do about it? (to end counterfeit menace)," the Hyderabad Lok Sabha member asked, while talking to PTI here.

Maintaining that the demonetisation move has caused "immense problems to every one", Owaisi said the government should give ample time -- at least a couple of months -- for people to exchange old notes. He said if anyone deposits huge amount of money, it can certainly be tracked.

He said ample time was given to the people when there such a move (demonetisation) in the Philippines, as also in Europe when Euro was introduced. "This (giving ample time for people) has been the norm in various countries".

Owaisi said he would give a notice for adjournment motion in Lok Sabha, where winter session commences tomorrow, to discuss the demonetisation move which, he said, has put farmers, rural and urban economies in distress.

People are finding huge difficulty in usage of newly introduced Rs 2,000 note because "no one has change", he claimed.

"86 per cent of our currencies are in the form of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes. You (government) have not planned for it, you have not prepared for it. Re-calibration (of ATM machines) would take more than 100 days. The worst part is: my money is in the bank but I cannot take it out," he said.