The Pune traffic police will soon start accepting fines paid via point of sale machines, and officials said the Regional Passport Office will get card swipe machines soon. The Pune traffic police will soon start accepting fines paid via point of sale machines, and officials said the Regional Passport Office will get card swipe machines soon. Digitisation and going cashless have become the new mantras of the government since demonetisation. But many government departments in Pune are yet to digitise their services or even make arrangements for online payments. Pune Newsline visited some government departments to take stock of the situation n At RTO: Over four months after demonetisation, the Pune Regional Transport Office (RTO) is yet to embrace the government’s cashless mantra. While RTO officials claim they are going to move the bulk of the payment system online, local residents have had to deal with the inconvenience caused by cash crunch. The daily collections at the Pune RTO range between Rs 1.5-2 crore, and these include licence fees, registration taxes and more. While registration fees are usually paid by vehicle showrooms, the license fees and vehicle registration taxes are paid by individuals. Green taxes, imposed on vehicles that are over 15 years old, are paid by the owner of the vehicle. Since demonetisation, there have been complaints about non-availability of cash to pay these taxes. Anil Patil, deputy Regional Transport Officer, admitted that the office was yet to go cashless. Patil claimed that the Pune office, along with other RTO offices, will soon implement Vahan IV software, which will allow online payment of all fees and taxes. “Fees and taxes constitute around 50 per cent of the payments and once they go online, the software will allow local residents to pay these fees at their convenience… the software has been implemented in Navi Mumbai and Thane… Pune will soon follow suit,” he said. The office is also going to implement Sarathi IV, which will allow online payment of licence fees. Patil claimed that the RTO had faced cash crunch only during the peak of demonetisation, adding, “the situation was normal soon enough”. At the passport office, the process of acquiring card swipe machines still underway. Though it has been four-and-a-half months since the announcement about demonetisation, the Passport Seva Kendra (PSK) in Pune is yet to go cashless. The Passport Seva Kendra, Mundhwa, and the Regional Passport Office (RPO), were supposed to get card swipe machines, but that has not happened. While there’s an option to pay the fees online, the applicants still need to pay extra fees in case they are asked to pay penalties and pay a part of the fees in cash for Tatkal applications. Those who need to replace a damaged passport also need to pay the charges in cash. Atul Gotsurve, Regional Passport Officer, Pune, said, “The process of installing card swipe machines at the PSKs and RPOs across India is under process. A single agency is going to install the machines at all the venues….” Gotsurve said that since there are several ATMs close to the RPO and PSK, Mundhwa, those seeking passports had no problems procuring cash. At Postal Department Ganesh Sawaleshwarkar, Postmaster General of Pune region, said that since 99.99 per cent transactions at the post office are made with notes of smaller denominations, the option of going cashless didn’t seem feasible. Other transactions, such as purchase of stamps in bulk, are done via cheques. He said that currently, cashless payment facilities such as card swiping machines or online wallets are not available across the counter. However, with the postal departments of Pune and Mysore recently adopting Core System Integrators, all departments will be integrated in six months and digital transactions will be made possible. “Much before demonetisation, the option of online premium payment and purchasing special postage stamps online was introduced on the web portal. Even at post offices, when the deposits mature, we have the option of transferring the amount to the existing account or paying them via cheque,” said Sawaleshwarkar. At Chitrapat Mahamandal: The Akhil Bharatiya Marathi Chitrapat Mahamandal (ABMCM), which always dealt only in cash, had come to a virtual standstill in the months after demonetisation. But the apex body for Marathi films is opening up to digital modes of transaction. Almost a month ago, ABMCM — where registrations of production houses, film titles, auditions, as well as permission for film shooting, subsidy approval, membership and membership renewal take place — introduced the facility of payment through credit and debit cards. “Only 10-20 per cent of transactions are in cash, the rest are either made via cheque or credit/debit card. In another one month, we will start the facility of online payments,” said Meghraj Raebhosale, president, ABMCM. Police & Courts THE functioning of both traffic police and courts, which levy and collect fines, was severely hampered in the days after demonetisation. While traffic police will soon start accepting fines paid via point-of-sale machines, courts in Pune are yet to take any steps towards cashless transactions. For about a month after demonetisation, while traffic police continued to accept notes of Rs 500 and 1,000, litigants faced a major problem in court when the latter refused to accept old notes. An officer from the planning division of the traffic police said, “We have got the point of sale machines for each traffic division and staffers have also been trained… cashless operations will begin soon… individual traffic divisions will get multiple machines, making it much easier to collect fines…” However, the courts are yet to take any steps in this regard. Lawyer and former chairman of Pune Bar Association, advocate Milind Pawar, said, “Litigants found it very difficult for about a month after demonetisation. Now the situation has eased as there is enough cash in circulation… but electronic money transfer is yet to be introduced.” For all the latest India News, download Indian Express App now

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