Pics: Shivaprasad Vakwady
Daijiworld Media Network – Udupi (SV)
Udupi, Dec 18: In congruence with the Prime Minister's dream of making India a cashless economy, Belapu village panchayat has taken a step towards becoming a totally cashless village by adopting 'digitisation' with the cooperation of Vijaya Bank.
An awareness programme on 'Cashless - digitised banking' was held for the members of the village on Saturday, December 17, at the Belapu village panchayat building.
M J Nagaraj, Vijaya Bank's regional manager of Udupi, presided over the programme and said, "As a corporate social responsibility initiative, Vijaya Bank is undertaking many social programmes to promote the economic revolution in the country. Vijaya Bank is adopting 100 villages to promote cashless transaction. Of the 100 villages, 8 villages have been selected from Udupi. We are going to provide free wi-fi facilities to the selected villages, and will educate the people about net banking and mobile banking. Our intention is to create digitised villages before December 30.
"Belapu village panchayat is recognised in the country for its development. We are very pleased to introduce the digital transaction system here. To promote this system, we will install ATMs in the village which will be inaugurated on December 24. We will also give the village toilet facilities at a total cost of Rs 2.5 lac. This too will be inaugurated on the same day," he concluded.
Dr Deviprasad Shetty, the president of Belapu village panchayat said, “We are implementing the government schemes effectively with the funds that they have provided. In order to support Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dream to become a cashless economy, we are introducing financial digitisation in our village with the support of Vijaya Bank. The panchayat is also planning to provide mobile phones to those with no mobile phones.
"With the help of students, who will also help conduct the survey, we will guide people of the village through cashless transaction. In the future, with the cooperation of Vijaya Bank, we aim to bring national recognition to Belapu village. We will also have an Aadhar card camp in the panchayat building. Another health plan is designed - a health policy free of cost for every home in the village panchayat. The panchayat is planning to have an advanced science research centre costing nearly 500 crore in Belapu, the work on which yet to begin. Also, work is in progress for a small scale industry hub to provide employment to the youth," Dr Shetty added.
Sahana, manager of Vijaya Bank, spoke about the different digital programmes of the bank, like V-net banking which helps people in transfer of fund among themselves and facilitates the payment of tax, policy, school fee alongside other payments, POS or swiping machine, V-wallet, V-pay pack, E-pass book, mobile banking, and also offline applications.
Ganesh Nayak, manager of Vijaya Bank, Kaup branch welcomed the dignitaries. A large number of villagers were present at the programme.