How much blackmoney has been recovered: Opposition asks Government

NEW DELHI: Government today came unde attack from Opposition parties in Lok Sabha for "failing" to come out with an estimate of recovery of blackmoney as a result of demonetisation, which was cited as a major aim of banning the high-value notes.

Raising the issue during discussion on the budget, CPI(M) leader P Karunakaran said the government was duty-bound to inform Parliament about the quantum of blackmoney it had recovered through demonetisation and the details must be made public.

"The Prime Minister is not ready to give the details. The Finance Minister is also not answering the question on it. The government must inform the Parliament how much blackmoney it managed to recover through demonetisation," he said.

The member from Kerala also said government has all the means including agencies like CBI and Income Tax department to get the details of recovery of blackmoney if it does not have the figure.

He also targeted the RBI for not sharing details about the fallout of the demonetisation move and partcularly criticised the central bank for putting restrictions on cooperative banks in exchange of old currencies.

Dhananjay Bhimrao Mahadik of NCP also attacked the government for "failing" to furnish how much blackmoney was recovered through the demonetisation exercise.

"Containing blackmoney was a major aim of the demonetisation exercise. The government must now tell us how much blackmoney was recovered," he said.

Karunakaran his state Kerala had suffered a loss of Rs 3,000 to 4,000 crore due to demonetisation and demanded compensation from the Centre to negate the adverse impact.