Port Blair, Dec 04: In order to review the status of implementation of digital payments in the Union Territories, a meeting of Group of Secretaries (GoS) was held under the chairmanship of Secretary (Coordinator), Cabinet Secretariat recently. Accordingly, all the Departments of the A&N Administration have been asked to convert their payment and receipt system at digital mode.
Speaking to a section of media here this morning, the Principal Secretary (Finance), Shri Raajiv Yaduvanshi said, with a view to boost cashless transactions throughout the Island territory, the Administration has taken up various measures. As part of this, the Administration, in coordination with the banks, is ensuring seeding of Aadhaar Card, mobile number in the ‘Jan Dhan’ accounts including NREGA account to facilitate Aadhaar enabled payment system. The Administration is also geared up to create awareness among the masses about digital payments, by involving the Common Service Centres. More use of RuPay Cards, BCs and micro ATMs will be motivated.
To cater to the needs of the employees working in the organized sector in the Islands, the Administration has asked the employers under unorganized sectors, such as factory owners, contractors, shops and other such establishments to persuade people working for them, to open bank accounts immediately. They have also been asked to pay wages to these employees through electronic/digital mode and not through cash.
The Administration also appeals to the youth of the Islands, students of schools & colleges to disseminate information about, and motivate the use of mobile/net banking/app based banking such as SBI buddy, PayTM, use of POS machines, CSCs, RuPay Cards, e-wallet etc. among the members of their families, other elderly persons and ladies in their neighbourhood. They have also been asked to familiarize the targeted people about the security measures to be adopted during such digital/cashless transactions.
The Principal Secretary informed that the Deputy Commissioners of all the three Districts of A&N Islands have been asked to promote cashless/digital transactions by creating mass awareness in their respective areas.
Meanwhile, the State Bank of India will be procuring 1200 new PoS (Point of Sale) machines, in addition to the already existing 534 such machines for the Islands. These machines will be installed throughout the Islands immediately. While it has already been observed that the queues in front of the ATMs are already weakened, these PoS, once installed, will further act as micro ATMs and benefit the people of the Islands. The banks will also be organizing training camps to educate the public about digital transactions, the Principal Secretary added.
