JOIN USTechnical glitches cripple digitisation drive in Udupi
The cashless process adopted in Udupi district does not seem to be working because of technical glitches in banking transactions.
Raising the issue at a meeting of DISHA (District Development Coordination and Monitoring Committee) here on Tuesday, Udupi-Chikmagalur MP Shobha Karandlaje sought clarifications about the problems that have hindered the digitisation process in the district and asked bank officials to expedite the transition.
She said PoS machines should be equipped with the software in such a way that they can accommodate the facilities without any financial repercussions. She said GPs in the district had miserably failed to digitise because of the inept banking system.
DC Priyanka Mary Francis said on an experimental basis, out of total 158 GPs, 41 were given PoS machines, through which rental and merchandise charges are collected. She said the Kotathattu GP had been fully digitised.
She said Vijaya Bank had waived rental charges for gram panchayats which are its regular clients. The MDR should be adopted. She spoke of other ways of adopting the digital banking system. She said banks should adopt at least one gram panchayat. The Halladi-Hakladi GP, with a population of 321, has been adopted by Syndicate Bank for mobile banking, she added.
A bank official advocated the use of a machine that could incorporate thumb impression, besides an Aadhaar-enabled transaction system.
Replying to a query, the Port and Fisheries executive engineer said drudging on 25 cubic metres out of two lakh cubic metres had been done and the work will resume after the monsoon. A proposal has been sent to the Central government, asking for 50% funds for construction of a harbour at Hejmadi Kodi with the rest being borne by the state government. He said that while the state government was spending Rs 72 crore, the Centre had approved only Rs 25 crore. Karandlaje promised to look into the matter.
TP EOs said 11,000 people were homeless in Udupi taluk, 7,618 in Kundapur and 7,749 in Karkala.
Karandlaje also expressed concern over 1.2 lakh BPL cards being rejected for not being linked to Aadhaar. She further said a recent stay by the NGT stay on felling of trees had hampered development works in the district. According to her, Central government funds would lapse if projects were not executed on time. For example, the construction of a Kendriya Vidyalaya building near Alevoor has been stopped owing to the NGT order as there are trees in the area. Karandlaje promised to bring the food processing industry to Udupi if the district administration ensured land without any problems pertaining to the NGT stay order. Another project — gems and jewellery training institute — has been stopped for want of land.