Govt offices in Gurgaon to go cashless in a week

A majority of the government departments in Gurgaon are likely to start cashless transactions within a week and Point of Sale (PoS) or card swipe machines have been ordered for all departments. Heads of government departments have been given a December-end deadline to comply with the state government’s orders on November 29 to start cashless transactions

A majority of the government departments in Gurgaon are likely to start cashless transactions within a week and Point of Sale (PoS) or card swipe machines have been ordered for all departments. Heads of government departments have been given a December-end deadline to comply with the state government’s orders on November 29 to start cashless transactions.

Officials expect the shift to cashless transactions to save time and manpower and speed up flow of funds for development works. (Parveen Kumar/HT)

Officials expect the shift to cashless transactions to save time and manpower and speed up flow of funds for development works.

It takes at least 62 days for money collected at government counters to be deposited in bank accounts, which leads to delay in accumulation of funds. This further delays funding of several government projects, senior government officials said in a meeting held in Gurgaon on Friday.

Following the meeting, all government departments in the city ordered for card swipe machines to make transactions cashless in government offices.

“Machines have been ordered by the respective departments. Banks will supply these machines within a week,” said Vinay Pratap Singh, additional deputy commissioner.

Ram Niwas, additional chief secretary (home) of Haryana, said in Friday’s meeting that cashless transactions would speed up work at counters as employees take time to count money, manage accounts, and deposit the money in banks. He said cashless transactions also mitigate security risks involved in carrying cash to and from banks.

After demonetisation, transactions at government offices dipped by 50%. The government earns major revenue from land sale deed registrations and the registry office in the mini-secretariat used to remain abuzz with activity. However, after the demonetisation announcement, the footfall has been reduced to half.

On an average, 3,000 land deeds are registered in Gurgaon every month, generating daily revenue of around Rs3.5 crore from stamp duty and registration fee, all in cash. Likewise, payments for vehicle registrations at the regional transport office (RTO) and the respective sub-divisional magistrate offices too are made in cash till now. Online transaction facility is available only for things such as payment of electricity bills.

“We do not have a single card swipe machine and there is no option of online transaction for fee on land registry. Counting cash and maintaining a tab on it consumes a lot of time. It also leads to rush at the counters,” said Pankaj Kumar, an employee at the registry office.