This is definitely being treated as a national emergency – the inadequate printing capacity of new notes post demonetization. The Huffington post reveals that the Indian Army has been deployed to help RBI print new notes.
The sudden surge in manpower requirement in printing and allied operations has forced the government to call in the military–the nation’s instrument of “last resort” in all emergency situations. Generally the military is deployed when other arms and agencies of the government are incapable of an adequate response.
Multiple officials familiar with the development are reported to have told HuffPost India that at least 400 soldiers including officers have been deployed in two security printing presses to help print new currency.
The two security presses where the military is helping out are in Salboni in West Bengal and Dewas in Madhya Pradesh. The Dewas Security Press is printing new Rs 500 currency notes whereas new Rs 2,000 and Rs100 notes are being printed in Salboni.
“There are about 150-200 soldiers and officers in each of these presses,” a top official said. The troops were called in about a week ago. “They were deployed shortly after that,” the officer said. All the persons who spoke to the paper asked not to be named due to the sensitivity of the matter.
