Mangaluru: Mr. Kateel said the problem faced by farmers in repaying the loans taken from cooperative banks using the invalid Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes was common across the country.

“The issue was raised in the Lok Sabha on Friday. I will write to the Finance Ministry and the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to permit cooperative banks to accept old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 denomination notes for repayment of loans from farmers. This will avoid farmers from becoming defaulters,” he said.

Asked about the refusal of point of service operators to give Rs. 2,000 notes because of transactional charges collected by nationalised banks, District Lead Bank Manager Raghav Yajamanya said that though an announcement had been made to waive transactional charges, an official communication was yet to be issued by the RBI.

Mr. Kateel asked private hospitals to accept Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes till November 24. “I can only request them as banks are accepting old notes from hospitals,” he said. District Health Officer Ramakrishna Rao said he had intervened in cases of refusal of invalid notes and had tried to resolve issues amicably.

Dr. Rao said a circular had been issued by Director, Health and Family Welfare, that the order allowing the use of old Rs. 500 and Rs. 1,000 notes applied only to government hospitals and not private hospitals. “If there is any issue, we have been told to get treatment for the patient at government hospitals,” he said.