A visually challenged man and his wife living with a physical disability in Anthiyur Taluk in Erode district has learnt the hard way that their life savings of ₹ 24,000 has zero value as it is in demonetised currency. The couple has no children and had earned a livelihood selling incense sticks and camphor.

Visually-challenged Somu (58) and his wife Palaniyammal (49) live in Pothiya Moopanur village. A few years ago, he gave ₹ 24,000 to his mother, Rasamma, who is an illiterate. She kept the money in a container at their house. When the going got tough due to COVID-19 lockdown, on July 10, they opened the container and found nine notes of the face value ₹ 1,000 and 30 old notes of ₹ 500.

However, they had the shock of their life when they learnt that the money was worthless. They took it to a nationalised bank where officials pointed out that the notes were demonetised on November 8, 2016.

Mr. Somu told The Hindu that he and his family was unaware of the demonetisation announcement as no villager had told them or discussed about it with them. “Except for the monthly old-age pension, we have no income and hence we need financial assistance for survival,” he said. He has to take care of his 80-year-mother. The money was saved over a period of 10 years prior to demonetisation.

G. Karthikeyan, a villager, said Mr. Somu cannot move out of his house due to complete loss of vision. “The couple is in desperate need of assistance as they have no source of income,” he added.

Erode Collector C. Kathiravan said he had asked the couple to come to the Collectorate on July 13. He will hand over ₹ 25,000 from his personal account to the couple as the currencies cannot be exchanged now.