Dehra Dun, August 23: The fifty paise coin may have virtually gone out of circulation, but for some shopkeepers here it still has some value.
Take the case of Hemant Mahawar, one of the busiest shopkeepers in the fashionable Paltan Bazar here, where he finds little time in attending to beggars.
Every day, he buys 50 paise coins for Rs 100 to 200 from beggars and keeps them on the shop’s counter itself. When a beggar comes, he or she picks up only one coin honestly and leaves without bothering him. “This saves my precious time,” he says.
For other shopkeepers also, 50 paise coins are useful albeit only to be given as alms.
The innovative method of circulating the coins back to shopkeepers also suits beggars so much that some of them have earned some quick bucks.
–PTI