Salvaging old notes at remote bank branches

On Thursday, November 10, some 36 hours after Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes were officially deemed illegal currency, Lakhma Vetti, a 60-year-old buffalo trader from Palnar village in South Bastar, was taking a leisurely walk to the Panchayat Bhawan to attend a local festival.

As soon as he heard about the demonetisation shocker, he rushed back home to count his money. He found out he had 78 notes of Rs 500 and one of Rs 1,000, a total of Rs 40,000.

“I have a bank account in Kirandul (about 20 km from his home) for many years. I have used it only twice — once for taking a loan of Rs 29,000 and then to repay it in one instalment when I sold buffaloes with a good margin. In our business, you have to have cash in hand,” says Vetti, going on to narrate a number of anecdotes about the barter system prevalent earlier and how he and fellow villagers became dependent on currency notes.

On the morning of Friday, November 11, Vetti and a bunch of other villagers hitched a ride to Kirandul on trucks by paying Rs 20 each. Vetti heaved a sigh of relief only after depositing his Rs 40,000, and that too after the bank cashier assured him that he won’t lose a single rupee.

Vetti lives in a mud house, but owns a television. He is one of the three tractor owners in the village. He clarifies that the tractor belongs to his son and was bought partly on credit.

Also read: Demonetisation will finish off Naxal funds: CM Raman Singh

Vetti is illiterate, but sent his son Nandlal to school. Nandlal, who has studied till Class IX, is now an employee with state-owned NMDC, which undertakes iron ore mining in the nearby Bacheli area.

Vetti, who speaks Gondi, concedes that language is a constraint for him, but insists that his buffalo business has made his outlook broader. He and a select few villagers carry cash in hand and venture out over 100 km to scout for good buffaloes in villages in Telangana, which borders Bijapur district of Chhattisgarh.

Also read: Targeting Naxals in Bastar may result in locals getting hit

“Sometimes, we are out of home for one month. We buy 10 -15 pairs of buffaloes at one go. Usually we sell a pair of buffaloes for Rs 45,000 with a profit margin of about Rs 5,000 per pair,” says Vetti. That trade won’t be the same again for some time to come.