Madhya Pradesh to soon get its first 'cashless' village

Badjhiri in Madhya Pradesh will soon become first 'cashless' village in the state, with shops equipped with Point of Sale (PoS) machines, ATMs and kiosks for online payment facilities. "A nationalised bank has come up with a plan in cooperation with the state government to transform Badjhiri into a cashless village," MP's Finance Minister Jayant Malaiya told reporters.

Badjhiri is located on the outskirts of the state's capital -Bhopal. "I will visit the village tomorrow with bank officials to know how the plans will be materialised on ground to make this village entirely cashless," Malaiya added.

The Finance Minister said that the Bank would provide PoS machines to all shopkeepers in addition to the installation of ATMs and kiosks and all other measures ensuring digital transactions. Earlier in the morning on Monday, Malaiya held a meeting with officials to discuss measures of cashless transactions being adopted by various state government departments.

"I held a meeting with the officials. They informed me that the training of 'master trainers' has been completed. These trainers would further educate other employees across the state about the cashless transactions," Malaiya said, adding that no deadline has been set for completion of this training programme.

A meeting of the MP Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan this morning also discussed measures for going cashless across departments. "The Chief Minister has told all his cabinet colleagues to ensure cashless transactions in dealings of their respective departments," Minister for Public Relations and MP Government spokesman Narottam Mishra told reporters after the cabinet meeting.

"The Finance Minister will oversee all the plans in this regard," Mishra added.

-PTI