VISAKHAPATNAM: The State government is determined to transform Vizag as the IT Hub and Cashless Transaction City as well as the Fintech Valley City very soon with the support of Visa, the globally famous payments technology provider, declared Nara Lokesh, AP Information Technology minister.
He attended as chief guest at the state level workshop and round-table discussion to dispel the myths associated with digital payments held here, at the Novotel Hotel, organised by the IT department along with the VISA organisation on Wednesday.
Addressing the gathering, Lokesh stated that by executing the 2016 MoU with VISA Company, the State government was going to transform Vizag into a complete cashless payments city of the country. As a step in this direction, a pilot project was launched with a time limit of six months to transform the city into a complete cashless transactions city.
“With this pilot project, we are going to know exactly what are the problems regarding cashless transaction system and how to overcome it without disturbing the entire system,” he explained.
The minister said that AP government was always in the forefront of digital innovations.
Recent partnership with VISA might strengthen the transformation of Vizag as India’s Fintech Valley and help in the transition of cashless society. “As a State, we will lead by the example and facilitate digital payment of all Government Utilities, transit and municipal taxes or user charges. We would continue to encourage citizens and merchants for cashless transactions,” Lokesh explained.
He stated that urban and rural citizens are different as well as their requirements. “According to their needs, we will implement a suitable system,” Lokesh said.
Replying to a question, Lokesh agreed that there were some lapses in digitisation and government was going to answer all the problems very soon. “Within three months, we are going to provide broadband connectivity to every household in the state with the help of Fiber Grid,” Lokesh said. The IT minister appealed for full support of all citizens of Telugu states for donations for the Capital Region Development.
The State Special Chief Secretary and IT adviser to CM advised the citizens and merchants to cooperate with the Government to achieve its goal soon.