Cop action buzz eases Rs 10-coin usage woes

KOLKATA: If you are wondering what suddenly is making a grocer or auto rickshaw driver accept the 10-rupee coins that they were refusing even a week ago despite RBI directive, thank a counter whisper campaign that is working wonders across the city.
From the bus conductor to the tea seller, the service providers on the streets say they must accept the legal tender otherwise the cops will “fine them”. “The passengers are threatening to complain.Even sergeants have warned us that they will slap a fine of Rs 400 if we refuse these coins,” said a conductor plying on the route 3D/1. “I have been warned that I will be fined Rs 10,000 if I disobey the RBI order,” said a Janbazar trader.
The result has left cops amused. “We have no authority to take action. However, if there is a complaint, we will look in to it and seek legal opinion,” explained a top IPS officer at Lalbazar. The police, though, accepted that officers from at least two commissionerates — most prominently the Barrackpore Commissionerate — had visited local shops to impress upon traders to accept the coins. “It was an exercise to help the people looking for change. Now, people are even accepting Rs 10 coins in bulk from banks,” said a DC level officer from the Barrackpore commissionerate. Kalyan Chowdhury from Behala, for example, was paid Rs 4000 in coins by a PSU bank after he went there to withdraw Rs 10,000 last Thursday.
Lower level officers, though, said there’s some truth in police persuading the common men to accept the coins. “Those posted outside banks understood that unless the public accepted coins, banks will face trouble dispensing cash. Hence, we tried to reason with customers on the same grounds,” said an officer from Shakespeare Sarani police station.