West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, who recently criticised Reserve Bank of India (RBI) Governor Urjit Patel for being silent on people's suffering due to Centre's demonetisation move, is likely to meet him here on Thursday.
The RBI governor will arrive in Kolakata tomorrow for some official engagements and his meeting with the Mamata is likely to take place on Thursday afternoon, a top official of the Chief Minister's Office told PTI today.
State Chief Secretary Basudeb Banerjee will meet Patel and take him to the state secretariat 'Nabanna' where the meeting will be held, the official said.
The meeting assumes significance as Banerjee had criticised Patel on December 8 questioning his 'silence' on the suffering of the common people following demonetisation.
It is a custom for the RBI Governor to meet the Chief Minister whenever he visits a state and there was a formal request from Patel's office for an appointment of Banerjee.
Patel will be here to attend the Central Board meeting of the RBI tomorrow. He will also meet bankers and industry leaders during the visit.
On being asked why Banerjee agreed to meet the RBI boss when she was critical of him, the official said this was an opportunity for the state government to place its views on issues related to demonetisation directly before Patel.
So, the problems faced by common people of the state would come up for discussion during the meeting, he said.
Banerjee is one of the most vocal opposition leaders against demonetisation since it was announced by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 8.
Today, she claimed that the "draconian" decision had drastically affected about five crore workers in the country.
"Crores of people have become the victims of the visionless policy. It's a major catastrophe. The draconian decision has drastically affected about five crore workers," she said in a statement.
Banerjee claimed that the decision is a huge setback for workers and that 1.25 crore workers in the unorganised sector, e-commerce, leather, jute, textiles, glass, beedi, gems and jewellery, and daily wage earners under schemes like MNREGA either lost jobs or had been seriously affected by the cash crunch.
"In big industries, a retrenchment process is going on, which has made or will make huge number of workers jobless," she said in her criticism of the demonetisation move.
"I can feel the extensive suffering and ordeal that these people are going through now. It is a matter of great concern," she said.
Earlier in the day, Banerjee tweeted, "Demonetisation is a major setback for commoners and maximum setback for workers. Crores of people have become victims of a visionless policy."
(With PTI inputs)
