Daijiworld Media Network - Hassan (SP)
Hassan, Apr 21: A lady from the town, who is deaf and dumb, has meagre earning. But she has been saving every penny she could, since young, for her future. As per a report published by The Hindu, the woman, Meenakshi (40), holds Rs 1.39 lac in demonetised currency notes of Rs 1,000 and 500 value, and realized just two days back that they do not have any value other than scrap. Meenakshi is unable to bear the agony of having to watch her hard work over several years going down the drain in this way. With animated gestures, she is trying to plead with everyone to help her to somehow exchange these currency notes.
Out of six children of Laxmidevi and Narasimha Shetty couple from here, Meenakshi and two of her brothers cannot hear or speak. She lives with mother and a younger brother, and her father breathed his last over a decade back. The mother-daughter duo works as domestic servants. Meenakshi earns about Rs 1,500 a month out of work as domestic servant and Rs 1,200 as disabled pension. Her mother says that Meenakshi carefully kept everything she earned with herself. "Meenakshi has been very particular about keeping her savings with herself, after spending only for bare necessities. Her total saving works out to Rs 1,39,000 so far," she stated. The money so saved includes gifts received from relatives and kind-hearted people on various occasions and local festivals. Meenakshi, it is gathered, kept the quantum of money she has saved a closely guarded secret.
The family lives in a house by paying rent of Rs 1,200 per month. Meenakshi's brother, Nagaraj, says that after demonetisation exercise was announced, himself and other members of the family had questioned Meenakshi whether she held any old currency notes but she steadfastly refused to disclose any information. He feels that she was fearful of losing the money if she handed it over to others, without realizing the seriousness of such an action. He stated that Meenakshi properly understood what a grave decision she had taken, after the lady for whom she works explained to her in detail two days back.
Meenakshi, it is said, does not have any bank account. Her mother says that Meenakshi hoped to pool enough money to build a home for herself and acquire some jewellery. Lakshmidevi is heart-broken at the prospect of losing the entire life's savings of her daughter in one go. She hopes that the government will come to the rescue of the lady, who worked hard over the years to save money for the future.
Some close relatives of the family have visited various offices including district administration in a bid to exchange the old currency notes. So far, none has been able to help as the deadline for exchange of these notes expired long back. There are a few who are ready to make small donations but no one has a solution to Meenakshi's problem as of now.