BHUBANESWAR: It's been back to the days of the barter with currency coins being in short supply in the state capital. Traders paying back in kind with chocolates, matchboxes and other knick knacks, instead of handing over small change, has been a common sight in daily markets of the city, with businessman alluding the practice to the shortage of coins in circulation.
In a bid to help ease the currency jam, Bhubaneswar branch of the Reserve Bank of India, in association with Rajadhani Dainik Haat, Byabasayee Sangha, organised a day-long coin mela at Unit-I market here on Thursday. Such has been the crunch that by the end of the day, bank officials had distributed coins of different denominations worth a whopping Rs 12 lakh, in exchange of currency notes.
"It was a long standing demand of the traders of Unit-I daily market as they have been facing an acute shortage of coins. The shortage was affecting their business. So we decided to organise an exchange programme in the market," said M Soren, treasurer of the bank.
"There was a severe coin crisis in the market, causing problems for both traders and customers. Whenever we were going to exchange notes from the RBI, they were demanding documents and it was not always possible for a poor businessman to go to the bank to bring coins," said Byabasayee Sangha secretary Gyadhar Swain. "We urged the bank authorities to organise an exchange camp inside the market so that genuine traders can get exchange coins. Only members of our sangha were entitled to exchange notes here," Swain said.
"The programme was of a great help for poor traders like us. We were facing a lot of problems due to shortage of coins," said Santosh Sahu, another trader, appreciating the RBI effort.
In a bid to help ease the currency jam, Bhubaneswar branch of the Reserve Bank of India, in association with Rajadhani Dainik Haat, Byabasayee Sangha, organised a day-long coin mela at Unit-I market here on Thursday. Such has been the crunch that by the end of the day, bank officials had distributed coins of different denominations worth a whopping Rs 12 lakh, in exchange of currency notes.
"It was a long standing demand of the traders of Unit-I daily market as they have been facing an acute shortage of coins. The shortage was affecting their business. So we decided to organise an exchange programme in the market," said M Soren, treasurer of the bank.
"There was a severe coin crisis in the market, causing problems for both traders and customers. Whenever we were going to exchange notes from the RBI, they were demanding documents and it was not always possible for a poor businessman to go to the bank to bring coins," said Byabasayee Sangha secretary Gyadhar Swain. "We urged the bank authorities to organise an exchange camp inside the market so that genuine traders can get exchange coins. Only members of our sangha were entitled to exchange notes here," Swain said.
"The programme was of a great help for poor traders like us. We were facing a lot of problems due to shortage of coins," said Santosh Sahu, another trader, appreciating the RBI effort.
TOI
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