Gram panchayats in Udupi district to go digital soon

Mangalore Today News Network

Manipal, Dec 21, 2016: It is reported that all 158 gram panchayats in Udupi district are on the threshold of becoming digitised and the process will be completed in the present fiscal year. Raising the issue at the District Developmental Coordination and Monitoring Committee, Udupi-Chikkamagaluru parliamentarian Shobha Karandlaje instructed the officials that all the state and Union government schemes should be digitised.

She said the zilla panchayat presidents, Panchayat Development Officers (PDOs) should be trained. Pamphlets should be distributed to popularise the programme and the bank representatives should take up door-to-door campaign to create awareness among the people over the cashless transactions.

The villagers can pay water, electricity bills and all other tariffs through mobile banking. The salaries can also be paid through mobile banking, she added.

Lead district manager Francis Borgia said all the 158 gram panchayats have bank accounts and PoS (point of sale) machines would be given to the gram panchayats. Haladi gram panchayat will be sooner declared as 100% digital. The village comprises 321 families and has been adopted as the pilot village for the digitisation experiment.

The PoS machines have been already given to Haladi, Kota and Kotathattu gram panchayats. He said the project has been envisioned phased manner and target for digitisation is December 31. By March 2017, the gram panchayats in the district will be digitised. He added that basic phone can be used for mobile banking which does not require internet and smart phones. The usage is simple and easy to follow. *99# is the basic code and the free messages will be available and the customer can opt for the respective banks and services through mobile.

Deputy Commissioner T Venkatesh said that the major drawback of the programme is that illiterates find is difficult to avail the mobile banking services. He said schoolchildren should be part of the awareness drive.

Zilla Panchayat Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Priyanka Mary Francis said that the customers can buy the Rupay card from the banks. As much as 60% of the Aadhaar card linking has been done in the district. She said there are 70 business correspondents (BCs) of the banks, who have been assigned for the work. Francis said the beneficiaries of the various housing schemes are in trouble as they cannot draw the deposited amount. The amount is mostly deposited in KVG banks. MP Karandlaje instructed the bank officials to look into the irregularities and sort out the problem immediately. She expressed her dissatisfaction over delayed start of the drudging work at Kodi Kanyana jetty, even after the six months following the tender. She also demanded for action against the officials for not using the Barge at Kodi Kanyana.

District Health Officer (DHO) Dr Rohini said that 568 dengue patients were diagnosed reported in the year, of which a single death has been reported. In 2014, eight Japanese Encephalitis (JE) cases were reported; in 2015, three and in 2016, one JE case has been reported in the district. The CEO expressed helplessness over non-payments of material expenses under MGNREGS owing to the lack of fund. Under Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana, 2,837 households are electrified at the cost of Rs 20.42 crore. There are 29,480 Anthyodaya cards in the district.

Food and Civil Supplies deputy director Yogeshwar said 4,141 cards have been deleted out of 1,64,677 cards following the failure to link the Aadhaar numbers. As of now, there are 1,60,536 ration cards with 5,85,396 members.