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Truckers Association Demands Hike In Withdrawal Limit To ₹20,000 Per Day For Drivers

They need over ₹1,194 crore on a daily basis to meet their operations costs.
Diana Mayfield

NEW DELHI -- Truckers body AIMTC today demanded increasing the cash withdrawal limit to ₹20,000 per day in view of inconvenience caused to drivers.

All India Motor Transport Congress (AIMTC), which represents 93 lakh truckers said acute financial crunch has impacted movement of trucks and supply of essential items.

AIMTC President Bhim Wadhwa told that they have appealed to Finance Minister Arun Jaitley to enhance cash withdrawal limits as drivers across India were facing problems.

Wadhwa said 80 per cent of the transport operations are cash based which implies that ₹1,194 crore is required on a daily basis by the sector to meet its operations costs.

The government demonetised ₹1,000 and ₹500 notes from the midnight of October 8 with the aim to fight black money and corruption, while exempting a few emergency services like hospitals, petrol pumps, railways and airports for 72 hours days up to November 11.

This list was later expanded to include payments for metro rail tickets, highway and road toll, purchase of medicines on doctor prescription from the government and private pharmacies, LPG gas cylinders, railway catering, electricity and water bills and ASI monument entry tickets.

The time limit was to expire mid-night yesterday, but it has now been extended by another 72 hours.

Banks and ATMs on weekend witnessed more chaos and even longer queues as cash-starved people jostled to exchange and withdraw money, even as cash dispensing machines went dry soon after they were stocked due to heavy rush.

Long serpentine queues were witnessed at bank branches for the third straight day across the country. Similarly, people were seen impatiently waiting outside ATMs to withdraw money.

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.