Select petrol pumps to dispense cash up to Rs 2,000 from today

November 18, 2016

New Delhi, Nov 18: Frustrated by long queues outside banks and ATMs? You can now drive into a petrol pump to draw cash. Swipe your debit card at petrol stations run by state-run oil companies and you will get Rs 2,000.

The facility will initially be available at 2,500 petrol pumps across the country that have card swipe machines from State Bank of India, the country's largest bank. Over the next three days, the facility will be extended to 20,000 outlets that have card swipe machines from HDFC Bank, Citibank and ICICI Bank.

The move, initially suggested by the All India Petroleum Dealers Association, is part of the Centre's efforts to ease the rush for new currency notes at bank branches and functional ATMs (cash dispensing machines) following withdrawal of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 bills.

But, there are also fears of a rush at petrol pumps, which could inconvenience customers seeking to tank up.

The details of the plan to use pumps to dispense cash were worked out on Thursday at a meeting between senior executives of Indian Oil, Hindustan Petroleum and Bharat Petroleum and SBI chief Arundhati Bhattacharya.

The facility to dispense cash from petrol pumps will continue even after November 24, the time till which old currency notes of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 can be used to pay for essential services. The withdrawal will be restricted to Rs 2,000 per debit card per day.

"We are very happy that the government has accepted our proposal. We wrote to the prime minister on November 14 to apprise him of the situation at petrol pumps and our willingness to help mitigate people's cash woes. We have never shied away from serving any national cause. We are happy to assist the government in its fight against black money and terror funding," AIPDA president Ajay Bansal said.

According to Bansal, the move would help restore order at petrol pumps and avoid heated arguments with customers.

Since the withdrawal of the notes, fuel stations have seen long queues and heated arguments with pump attendants as consumers paid with old Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes --even though they had bought fuel worth far less, in the hope of getting bills of Rs 100 or lower denomination as change.

Due to shortage of smaller denomination notes, pumps have been selling fuel for round figures.

"Our pump attendants are as good as, if not better than, bank tellers when it comes to handling cash. In banks they have to make several entries.At petrol pumps, we will swipe and once the transaction is cleared, hand over the money .So it will be quicker and people can come to get cash even after work," Bansal said.

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Another setback for Congress, as its Indore candidate switches to BJP ahead of voting

News Network

April 29,2024

In yet another setback to the Congress party amid the ongoing Lok Sabha elections, its candidate from Indore Akshay Kanti Bam withdrew his nomination on Monday, April 29, days before voting.

Interestingly, he had reached the Collector's office with BJP MLA Ramesh Mendola to withdraw his nomination. He also reportedly joined BJP.

Senior BJP leader and state cabinet minister Kailash Vijayvargiya in a post on X said Bam was welcome to join the BJP.

"Congress Lok Sabha candidate from Indore Akshay Kanti Bam is welcome in the BJP under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, party national president J P Nadda, Chief Minister Mohan Yadav and state president VD Sharma," he said in the post.

The Congress had fielded Bam against sitting BJP MP Shankar Lalwani from the Indore Lok Sabha seat, where polling will be held on May 13.

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3 Indian youths arrested in Canada for Sikh separatist leader’s murder

News Network

May 4,2024

Canadian Police said they have arrested three Indians they suspect were part of the alleged hit squad that had killed Hardeep Singh Nijjar, a Sikh separatist leader involved with the Khalistan movement, which calls for an independent Sikh state.

Nijjar's killing had become the epicentre of a diplomatic row between India and Canada last year after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau alleged the role of "Indian agents" in the murder. India had rejected the charge as "absurd" and "motivated".

The three arrested Indians - Karan Brar, 22, Kamalpreet Singh, 22, Karanpreet Singh, 28 - were living as non-permanent residents in Alberta for three to five years, said Superintendent Mandeep Mooker, who leads the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team. The police have also released their photos.

They have been charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder, showed court documents.

Police said that none of the suspects were known to them earlier and they were investigating their possible ties to the Indian government.

The murder remains "very much under active investigation," Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Assistant Commissioner David Teboul told a press conference on Friday.

"There are separate and distinct investigations ongoing into these matters, certainly not limited to the involvement of the people arrested today, and these efforts include investigating connections to the government of India," CTV News quoted him as saying.

Nijjar, a Canadian citizen who was wanted in India on various terror charges, was shot dead outside a gurdwara in Surrey on June 18, 2023. Trudeau's charge against India sparked a massive row later that year with both countries expelling diplomats of the other country.

A fresh row erupted earlier this week after separatist slogans on 'Khalistan' were raised at an event addressed by Trudeau, prompting New Delhi to summon their Deputy High Commissioner and lodge a strong protest.

On the sidelines of the event, Trudeau told reporters that Nijjar's killing had created a "problem" that he could not have ignored.

India rejected his comment and said it once again showed Canada provides political space given to separatism, extremism, and violence. "This not only impacts India-Canada relations but also encourages a climate of violence and criminality in Canada to the detriment of its own citizens," foreign ministry spokesperson Randhir Jaiswal said.

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