Following complaints that several people are refusing to accept small one rupee coins during transactions, the Dehradun district magistrate Ashish Kumar Shrivastava stated that no one can refuse to accept the currencies issued by the Government of India.
For the last several months, many people including shopkeepers, consumers and three-wheeler drivers are not accepting one rupee coins citing the reason that others are not taking it too. It has become like an unauthorised ban on small one rupee coins by some locals which is continuing.
“Initially, a local grocery store owner refused to accept small one rupee coins claiming that such coins are fake. Probably that was a rumour he might have heard somewhere or maybe he just made it up but the same thing started in other places too.
Everyone from bus conductors, autorickshaw drivers to dairy employees, nobody accepted these coins. Everyone has the same reason that others are not accepting it too.
This thing has become like an unofficial demonetisation of small one rupee coins,†said a local teacher, Sapna Negi.
Meanwhile, some people also claimed that since most of the banks allow only the limited submission of one rupee coins, they have to face problems while spending such coins. “I did not stop taking small one rupee coins due to any rumour but I stopped taking them because no one was ready to take it from me.
The customers refuse to accept it, some shopkeepers also do not take it and when I went to deposit these coins in the bank, they said I cannot deposit more than 20 coins at a time. I have thousands of such coins, where should I spend them when no one is taking them from me. That is why I have stopped accepting them too,†said a local grocery store owner, Digvijay Rawat.
On being asked about why nobody complaints to the authorities, people said that they feel that the authorities will either dismiss the matter considering it a trivial issue or will not even look into it seriously. Rawat said, “A similar kind of situation occurred a few years ago with the Rs 10 coins too but it got settled gradually.
Also, we do not want to involve police just for one rupee coins. It is a well known matter for months, if the authorities considered this as an important issue, they would have issued some directions against this unofficial ban on one rupee coins.â€
However, the DM stated that it is an offence to refuse the currencies issued by the government and anyone who faces such a situation can complain to the local authorities and action will be taken against the culprits.
