The Central government, for the first time, has admitted that people did die due to reasons linked with its sudden demonetisation move in 2016. It has said four people, which included three bank staff and one customer, died during the demonetisation and were paid compensation as well.
Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, laying out the details in response to a question in Rajya Sabha, has admitted that State Bank of India reported these four deaths. "State Bank of India has reported that three staff members and one customer died during the period of demonetisation," stated Jaitley's answer.
The minister’s response came to a question by CPI(M) MP Elamaram Kareem, who asked about the number of persons, including bank workers, who had lost their lives during demonetisation by standing in queues for changing currency, mental shock, work pressure etc.
The government said that apart from SBI, all other public sector banks have reported zero deaths due to demonetisation.
The Finance Minister said a compensation of Rs 44 lakh, including Rs 3 lakh to the customer, has been paid to the family members. Notably, he also said that "no specific study has been done by government" on the impact of demonetisation on industry and employment situation in the country.
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