Demonetisation: PM Modi reviews giant financial exercise as woes go north

New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday reviewed the status of the demonetisation exercise at a meeting with top officials of the government.[caption id=“attachment_3108532” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Prime Minister Narendra Modi. PTI[/caption] Officials of the PMO and the finance ministry were present in the meeting where stock was taken about the availability of cash in banks and ATMs and other measures taken to ease the difficulties of the people, sources said. Earlier in the day, the government announced a number of new measures to ease difficulties of the people, which included relaxing of restrictions on cash withdrawals by farmers and families with upcoming weddings. Now families preparing for a wedding can withdraw up to Rs 2.50 lakh from bank account giving PAN details and self-declaration. Besides, farmers who have taken crop loan or have kisan credit card can withdraw Rs 25,000 per week. Also those who have got payments through RTGS or cheque deposit in KYC compliant bank account can withdraw an additional Rs 25,000 a week. This takes the total cash withdrawal limit for farmers from KYC complaint bank accounts to Rs 50,000 per week. The Prime Minister had on 8 November announced the scrapping of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes.