CHENNAI: In order to sensitise residents of Kovilambakkam village panchayat in Pallikaranai on counterfeit currency, officials of the Reserve Bank of India visited the area on Monday and conducted a workshop at the panchayat office. Residents, panchayat officials and councillors learnt many basic and simple methods of differentiating genuine and fake currency notes.RBI officials, in co-ordination with the village panchayat president A Ranganathan, decided to conduct the workshop after Express reported that Pallikaranai locals feared the inflow of fake currency into their area after three labourers from West Bengal were held by the National Investigation Agency. RBI officials emphasised the importance of knowing the features of genuine currency notes to help identify fake notes as they said that possession and passing on of fake notes not only brings economic loss to both the individual and the country, but also could land a person in prison for three to seven years, with fine. Besides explaining the six basic features of a genuine note that can help differentiate it from a fake note, pamphlets were also distributed. RBI officials said they would be imparting more detailed training to bank officials as well as conducting workshops for staff of petrol bunks and TASMAC outlets. Several residents who enthusiastically participated in the workshop, said it was the first time they knew that a currency note had such special features. “We never knew or checked notes for all these features. This is the first time we are hearing that genuine and fake notes have so many differences,” said Saraswati, a resident of the area. “Even when we go to banks, we never had the patience to read posters,” another resident, Vikramasimhan, said.
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