DNA: Mumbai: Tuesday, March 28,
2017.
An emotional
trip back to his locked home turned tumultuous for a 17-year-old orphan boy who
has been living with his 12-year-old sister in a child care home in Kota,
Rajasthan.
According to
a report by The Indian Express, the boy visited his mother's home in Sarawada
village which is about 60 km from Kota. There he found Rs 96,000 stuffed in his
mother's pillow, which came as quite a shock, said the report, as the siblings
had said they didn't have much to begin with.
However, the
worse for the kids was yet to come. The Rs 96,000 that the boy found stuffed in
the pillow was in the old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes that his mother - who was
allegedly murdered by a man she was in a relationship with - may have saved and
stashed away. The father, a truck driver, had walked out on the family before
that.
In a bid to
deposit the now de-commissioned notes, the boy went to the Reserve Bank of
India to explain his plight. However, this was on March 22, much after the last
date set by the government to accept the old notes. However, he was turned
away.
He has now
written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, explaining his
situation, a hard copy of which will be mailed to the PM's office.
In it the
report said, he said, "Please listen to our Mann ki Baat, Modiji. Humare
aage peeche koi nahin (We don’t have any relatives)… our father left us when we
were young and our mother was murdered. We want to deposit the money back with
the government. please help us at the earliest.”
Meanwhile,
the Supreme Court has sought a response from the government and from the RBI as
to why individuals were not allowed to deposit the old notes till March 31,
2017. The window to deposit these notes closed on December 30, 2016. Only NRIs
who were not in the country at the time of demonetization, are now being
allowed to deposit the old notes till March 31. The RBI refused to answer the
same question asked through an RTI query saying it didn't come under the definition
of 'information' under the Right to Information Act.
Meanwhile,
the Indian Express report said that a Kota MP Om Birla had come forward and
said, "We will request the government to address this. If it isn't
possible due to legal issues, we hope to raise Rs 50,000 for them with the help
of the public. We will take care of their education and the residents of Kota
will pool in money for the girl's marriage when the time comes. We are ready to
take care of them."