By IANS,
Dhaka : Bangladesh has introduced new Taka 1000 currency notes and they are much in demand with many heading to street vendors in the capital and even paying extra money to get hold of one.
While Bangladesh Bank, the country’s central bank that issued the new currency notes Oct 27, deals with the banks, the general public can collect them from vendors at Gulistan and Nababpur localities and at Sadarghat, the river front on the Buri Ganga.
Bangladesh’s currency was the Pakistani Rupee in the East Pakistan era. On independence in 1971, the country changed to its traditional currencies, Taka and poisha.
Vendors doing brisk business with the notes said that it has become the hottest merchandise and people are paying extra to get hold of one, The Daily Star said Sunday.
The 1000-taka note is a blend of reddish-violet shades. It bears a picture of the Central Shaheed Minar, the memorial for those who died to preserve the Bengali language and culture in 1954, on one side and a picture of Curzon Hall of Dhaka University on the other.
Curzon Hall is a landmark building named after a British Viceroy. The bill also has a few Bangla alphabets printed on it.
The central bank also took blind people into consideration while designing the note. The 1000-taka note, a little larger in size than any other notes, has the amount written in Braille and has dots on the right side of the note.
Said Monirul Islam, a dealer of the new notes at Gulistan: “For us Eid is usually the best time for business when most people exchange old notes for new ones. However, after the 1000-taka note was launched everyone who walks by has shown tremendous interest.”
They charge Taka 10 to 20 as commission for each 1000-taka bill. The vendors collect them directly from Bangladesh Bank counters.
A man “buying” the note from a vendor at Gulistan said: “I want to collect it as it has been released for the first time in the country.”
Another buyer Abdul Halim, a trader from Stadium Market, said he would present the note to his daughter.