IANS
PANAJI: In a U-turn, Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar on Saturday said it was neither possible nor desirable to make Goa a fully cashless state.
Parrikar said the state government aimed to make only up to 50 per cent transactions in Goa cashless.
“Fully cashless is not possible, nor desirable, nor intended; what is intention is to reduce the extent of use of cash.
Parrikar recently said that all transactions in Goa will be through cashless mode by December 31. In this regard, the commercial tax department issued a circular that commercial establishments should conduct their business transactions in the cashless mode, but this was withdrawn by the government after a demand was made by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
Parrikar said that around 26,000 persons have been sensitized on various forums across the state on cashless transactions. He also said that point of sale (POS) machines have been installed in around 600 terminals across the state and added that 2,700 vendors have switched to unified payment interface (UPI) applications.
Speaking at the Indian Oil function, chief minister Laxmikant Parsekar said due to 2.2 million bank accounts, 1.7 million mobile connections and 1.5 million population, Goa can become the first cashless state in the country.
December 26, 2016 at 12:08 pm
The statement by the minister indicates that he has realised the fact that cash transactions are important and cannot be completely and permanently removed from ordinary business. The centre must also note this fact