JESSORE, Sept 17 (bdnews24.com) Shopkeepers are not accepting Tk one and two coins in Jessore.
Bank branches also appear unwilling to accept them. They say the Bangladesh Bank asked them to distribute the coins and there was no instruction on accepting or storing them.
It is difficult to store coins in bank vaults, they argue.
Children collecting coins and traders using them are facing the trouble.
Shopkeepers in markets in Sarsha Upazila were not accepting coins anymore.
"I have loads of coins but nobody is taking them, not even the banks. Much of my money is stuck. So I will not accept coins anymore," said Nazir Hossain of Navaron Bazar.
Anwar Hossain, a shopkeeper in Jamtala Bazar, said he is compelled to take coins while dealing with small traders. "But neither banks nor the company salespersons are accepting them."
He said small traders often pay large sums in coins, which they accumulate from retail trade.
"They insist on giving us coins worth hundreds of Takas, but we are now stuck with them," said Anwar. "Just don't know what to do with them."
Local bakery owner Monirul Islam noted small tea-shop owners pay them with a 'lot of coins' for bread and biscuits.
"They refuse to take our products if we don't accept coins. But now we are stuck as banks are not taking them," Islam added.
As news spreads that coins are not been accepted by shops and banks, children and housewives are in a tizzy.
They normally save coins in their earthen saving pots-a traditional local savings practice from the days of undivided Bengal.
"Both my girls saved a lot of coins from the money I give them to buy tiffin at school. The total value of these coins is around Tk 2,000. But I don't know what to do with them," noted housewife Lechi Yasmin.
Bangladesh Bank official at Sarsha Mashiar Rahman said they have got a circular on distributing coins, not about receiving payments in them or storing them. "Our circular clearly says ten percent of any payment to banks be made in coins, but we don't have clear instruction about receiving coins or storing them."
