DHARMAPURI: While most people and traders refuse to accept ₹10 coins in Dharmapuri, a 27-year-old homeopath collected around 60,000 coins and bought a car with it to raise awareness.
Recalling his decision, Dr A Vetrivel, who also runs a school, said, "It was about a month ago, when I was interacting with students, when I saw some of them playing with ₹10 coins. When I asked them why they were playing with money, they said the coins were useless. They were not wrong about this, as shops in Dharmapuri usually don't accept ₹10 coins. I decided to bring awareness and for the past 30 days, I have been going from door to door in the locality collecting the coins, and exchanging them with ₹10 notes. I have also collected coins from banks as well."
"It was relatively easy, as people were more than relieved to exchange the coins. I collected 60,000 coins from Harur alone. I bought a car with the collected coins," he said, adding that he carried the coins to the showroom in small plastic bags and the dealer had to verify with multiple banks before completing the transaction.
Speaking to TNIE, Umashankar, a vendor said, "Many dealers have many ₹10 coins at their homes, as the customers refuse to take it. Banks are no better, as when I tried exchanging the coins for bank notes a few years ago, many public sector banks denied the request. I have 250 ₹10 coins in my shop."
Dharmapuri Lead Bank Manager, Kannan said, "The RBI has clearly informed that these coins are legal tender in all transactions. But the people in Dharmapuri, Krishnagiri, Salem and Namakkal are hesitating to use these coins. We have been pushing the people and the traders to accept these coins, but most of them refuse to do so. ₹10 coins worth several lakhs are lying unused in the banks."