Bhubaneswar: The state government Friday emphasised the need to provide banking and broadband internet connectivity in panchayats during the meeting of chief ministers-level panel on
digital payment.
Addressing the meeting on behalf of Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, Chief Secretary AP Padhi said 70 per cent of gram panchayats (GPs) with 47 per cent of rural population do not have access to banks.
One-third of the GPs do not have a banking correspondent (BC). Therefore, it is extremely important at this point to have a massive programme to open brick and mortar branches in the state and other similarly placed states, he
suggested.
“Mobile vans and temporary counters should be pressed into service by banks immediately in rural areas to provide access to banking and other digital payment services. BCs with micro ATMs, particularly enabled with Aadhaar based payment system should be activated,” Padhi said at the meeting held through video conferencing.
Of 6238 GPs, less than 2000 have wireline broadband service. Under the Bharat Net Project, only 350 GPs have enabled high-speed internet facility so far, he pointed out.
“Since digital payment infrastructure is extremely weak, especially in semi-urban and rural areas, there is an urgent need for the Centre to ensure that Bharat Broadband Nigam Limited (BSNL) accelerates the project to connect remaining GPs as early as possible,” Padhi suggested.
The state government urged the Centre to ensure early commissioning of sufficient mobile towers through BSNL utilising universal service obligation (USO) fund.
Among others, the state demanded that all card payments be made free of cost even beyond December, exemption of service tax on digital transactions up to `10,000 instead of `2,000 and supply of POS machines by banks to government free of cost.
The meeting was presided over by Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu. Additional chief secretary to CM, UN Behera, development commissioner R Balakrishnan and finance secretary TK Pandey participated in the video conference here.
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