Mumbai: In keeping with the central government’s push for a cashless economy, the State government has put together a comprehensive plan to introduce e-payments for all government services in Maharashtra. This will include examination fees, hospital charges, Metro and Monorail fares, and parking charges. “With this decision, we have moved to a cashless Maharashtra,” a senior State government official told The Hindu .
The new policy was approved by Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis this week, and will come into effect soon. Government departments have already been directed to implement the policy at the earliest. The State government has also asked the Centre to mandate a point of sale (POS) to debit card ratio for banks and offset capital expenditure for installing POS terminals.
“We have asked the Centre to subsidise the cost of POS, extend depreciation benefits for POS terminals, discontinue convenience fee and order telecommunication companies to waive the mandatory Rs. 1.50 transaction charge,” a State finance department official said.
As users, citizens will have the option of paying by cash as well, as discontinuing cheque and cash payments completely will not be feasible. However, officials said it’s not clear which areas will be made totally cashless at this stage. “For now, the departments have been asked to come up with a blueprint for each specific sector, so having or not having the cash-only option may depend on a case-to-case basis for various sectors. For example, hospitals may keep other options open along with the digital one,’ a senior official said.
Under the new policy, the State government has decided to make electronic payments mandatory for every government service, including in lower courts, tribunals, for payment of cooperatives, housing societies, agriculture markets, and municipal corporations, autonomous bodies, among others.
Specific services that have been added to the new policy include public parking, lower courts, toll collection, all utilities (water, electricity, property tax etc), education and examination fees, charges at public and government hospitals and fare collection in mass transit systems.
Senior officials said the new policy will not only give wider access to citizens, but will ensure ease of use and security of users and safety of operations, the new policy document reads.
The government has already directed the departments of finance, general administration, public works, urban development, law and judiciary, public health, medical education, transport, higher and technical education to adopt the policy at the earliest. The departments have been told to take suggestions from retail businesses and work closely with the Confederation of All India Traders and retailers’ associations and design programmes for customer education and awareness.
