Bangladeshis are returning from India in increasing numbers following the ban imposed on INR 1,000 and INR 500 currency notes by the Indian government since last Wednesday. The currency crisis that has gripped the entire neighbouring country, including West Bengal, has made life difficult for many Bangladeshis. According to immigration sources at Benapole border outpost, 2,660 Bangladeshis came back from India yesterday but only 970 Bangladeshis went to India. On Saturday, 1,200 people from Bangladesh entered the neighbouring country while 3,850 Bangladeshis came back.
According to the immigration sources at Benapole land port, at least 2,500 Bangladeshis would enter everyday before the Narendra Modi government banned Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes. People could buy and sell Indian rupees at different money exchangers in Dhaka. But the situation has changed dramatically following the ban by the Indian government as the owners of money exchangers do not accept the Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes anymore. SM Saidur Rahman, owner of Four Sea Money Exchange at Motijhil in Dhaka, told The Independent that they are not

exchanging and buying Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes after the Indian government banned these. He, however, added that they were exchanging Rs 100 and small Indian currency notes as per government rates. He further disclosed that he had heard some people were exchanging the big currency notes at Tk. 0.40 to Tk. 0.50 per INR.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Bank’s (BB’s) joint director of foreign currency department (policy), Pradip Das, said they have received instructions from the government on the issue though they have not got any official message from the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) about the Indian rupees available in Bangladesh.
A businessman, who travels regularly to Kolkata, said requesting anonymity that though pre-paid taxi booths at the Kolkata airport continued to accept Rs 1,000 and Rs 500 currency notes since Wednesday, several passengers—particularly those from abroad—faced problems after alighting from their flights. He also said Bangladeshis tourists and patients who had gone there for treatment faced major hassles as they had had many Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes in their possession. Referring to the ban, the press minister of the Bangladesh high commission in New Delhi, Farid Hossain, told The Independent that the members of staff of the high commission were facing difficulties as they do not have sufficient numbers of currency notes of Indian currency of small denomination.
“Small notes are not available in the ATM booths and banks, too. People are drawing money from the banks in Delhi after standing in long queues as notes are not available,” he said, adding, “It will be at least a month before things become normal.” He also said the deputy high commission in Kolkata cannot handle the rush of citizens who are facing the currency crisis as it, too, does not have sufficient currency notes to help Bangladeshis. Shahida Begum, a resident of Dhanmondi who had gone to Kolkata for her mother’s treatment, was compelled to buy medicines worth Rs 35,000, a year’s supply, as the pharmacies in Kolkata only accept big notes of Indian currency. She told The Independent that they could return to Dhaka as they had earlier bought return air tickets on the Dhaka-Kolkata-Dhaka sector. She added that hundreds of Bangladeshis were facing the same problem there.