Switch to e-payment at earliest, Centre tells ULBs

As part of efforts to move towards cashless transactions, the Centre has asked all the statutory 4,041 urban local bodies (ULBs) to shift to e-payment at the earliest even as all cities and towns of Madhya Pradesh will go for this mode from March next year.

The message to the officials of these 4,041 ULBs, which account for about 75 per cent of the total 40 crore urban population in the country, was conveyed by Urban Development Secretary Rajiv Gauba through interactive video-conferencing, an official release said on Sunday.

Senior officials of the states concerned participated in the half-day long interaction on various aspects of cashless transactions, it added.

"Officials from Madhya Pradesh said the major seven cities have already enabled cashless transactions and all the 378 cities and towns would do so by March next year," the release said. During the interaction, the state and city level officials were asked to promote Internet banking, online payment via credit and debit cards, besides using Public Finance Management Systems (PFMS) developed by the finance ministry for funds transfer and accounting purposes, among others.

Gauba emphasised that all transactions relating to both income and expenditure of urban local bodies need to be shifted to e-payment mode.

Meanwhile, as many as 59 cities have collected tax revenues of Rs 1,722 crore during November so far, including dues payable. Minister of Urban Development M Venkaiah Naidu inaugurated a cashless payment system introduced by the Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation and orientation camps for educating citizens on e-payment, the release said.