Did Embassies' Threat to Cap Money to Indian Diplomats Abroad Help Them Jump Cash Queues?

Updated on: 9 December 2016 10:36 am

The threat to pay back in the same coin to Indian diplomats abroad seems to have worked as the government has asked finance ministry to issue directive to banks to allow foreign diplomats to withdraw cash on priority basis.

Foreign secretary S Jaishankar met dean of diplomatic corps Frank Castellanos to sort out the woes of diplomatic community that continues to reel under a severe cash crunch, reported The Times of India.

Quoting sources from the Russian embassy in Delhi, NDTV had reported the Russian ambassador in Delhi Alexander Kadakin has written a letter to the Ministry of External Affairs on December 2 questioning the Indian government’s decision to put limit on cash withdrawal, the report said.

According to the report, in his letter, the ambassador has said that the Indian government’s withdrawal limit is “not even enough to pay for a decent dinner, adding the Rs. 50,000 a week limit is totally inadequate for operational expenses.

"How can such a big embassy in Delhi function without cash?" NDTV quotes the envoy. The report also says that Russian government sources have described the curbs as "a violation of international charters".

Earlier, Pakistani embassy in Delhi had also lodged an informal protest against demonetisation as the embassy staffers faced difficulties in withdrawing money.

Castellanos had warned earlier that some nations are upset that the manner in which demonetisation was being implemented would impose similar cash withdrawal restrictions on Indian diplomats.

Castellanos, who is the ambassador of Dominican Republic, had said that Rs 50,000 cap a week for the operation of an embassy was not enough. MEA said this issue too was being looked into. Citing the Vienna Convention, the dean had said that diplomats could not be stopped from accessing their funds and a solution to this was needed soon. He went on to state that the buck for unavailability of cash stopped at the of fice of PM Narendra Modi.

“The finance ministry , as a consequence, is being asked to issue directives to banks to allow embassy officials with identity cards to withdraw money on a priority basis,“ said MEA spokesperson Vikas Swarup.