In view of demonetisation, Punjab Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal today directed banks to mitigate problems of people and launch awareness drives for cashless transactions at rural areas through e-payment modes like e-wallets, mobile banking and PoS machines.
In a review meeting here with senior officers and Deputy Commissioners (DCs) on execution of various development works and welfare schemes, he asked SBI officials to appoint correspondents at rural areas with PoS machines and make micro ATMs available for transactions.
Sukhbir directed Additional Chief Secretary (Finance) DP Reddy to draft a plan to allot debit and credit cards to all account holders and make available PoS machines at shops and micro ATMs in villages.
To facilitate easy e-transactions and encourage digital payments at the grass root, he asked DCs to hold meetings with leading banks to adopt villages and towns and make them digital in a phased manner.
Reviewing rural and urban missions, Sukhbir said," These are vital links in the chain of providing basic civic amenities and must be completed in the next two weeks.
Health cards under Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojna must be distributed within a week, he said.
Badal directed DCs to submit compliance report on free medicine and recently started testing centers within a week.
On skill development centers, he said out of 109 centers constructed in Punjab, 70 are functional and the rest would be operational by December 15.
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