Imphal: Newspapers failed to hit the stands in Manipur for the second consecutive day on November 19, following their owners’ decision to suspend publication because of the non-availability of lower denomination notes.
Newspaper Publishers’ Association, All Manipur Newspaper Sales and Distributors Association organized a sit-in protest at in the national capital of Imphal demanding the government to facilitate dispensing of adequate lower denomination notes to run their business.
One protester said: “Publication would resume immediately if the government takes steps to ensure dispensing of lower denomination currency notes.”
The publishers’ body had said publication of papers was not possible because of shortage of the currency notes, reports morungexpress.com.
The decision to stop publication of papers indefinitely was announced following a joint meeting of the Newspaper Publishers’ Association, All Manipur Newspaper Sales and Distributors Association and Editors’ Guild at Hueiyen Lanpao office in Imphal on November 17.
Since the demonetization of 500 and 1000 currency notes from midnight of November 8, the distributors and hawkers faced difficulty in carrying out their business. The newspaper owners have refused to accept the scrapped old notes from the distributors who are neither in a position to make payment of lower denominations nor the new notes to the media houses.
On November 15, the publishers’ body said media houses faced inconveniences in transacting business following demonetization. The publishers had said they would not accept these notes from distributors and urged the government to include the media houses in these categories.
People here have not been able to get sufficient legal tenders since then. Many shops in Khwairamband Keithel in Imphal have started downing shutters due to small number of customers leaving their daily business in a worse shape.
The government has not included media houses in the categories where the demonetized notes can be transacted until November 24 midnight, the time limit given by the federal government.
Government hospitals, bus ticket counters, railways, airports, milk booths, fuel stations authorized by the state governments, crematoria and burial grounds fall under these groups.