“The online payment system in gram panchayats was to start in Uttar Pradesh from August 15. We didn’t have a problem
with that. However, the authorities discontinued the cheque-payment system from
July 31, when the online payment system wasn’t even fully functional. It’s been
two months now. We haven’t been able to withdraw any fund,” said Sujeet Singh, the
village head of Pipariya Dulai gram panchayat in Pilibhit district in Uttar
Pradesh.
He
is not the only one. Many village heads in the state are facing this problem,
as a result of which practically no work has happened at the panchayat level in
the past two months.
As
per a government order, under the Public Financial Management System (PFMC),
the online payment system was to start in Uttar Pradesh’s 58,758gram panchayats
from August 15. However, the system to get funds through cheque payments was discontinued
on July 31. As a result of this, until September 17, only 1,164 panchayats have
been able to start with the online payment system.
Talking
about the issue, Yogeshwar Singh, village head from Madhav Tanda in Uttar
Pradesh’s Pilibhit district, said: “Earlier we were getting paid through
cheques. The account was jointly operated by the village head and the panchayat
secretary. When the online payment system started, dongles bearing their
signatures were made available. While all this was happening, the system
collapsed.”
The online payment system to gram panchayats was to start from August 15. However, the cheque-payment system was discontinued from July 31.
He
added: “They should have at least trained us. They should have made sure that
computers and Internet facilities are available at panchayat bhavans. The new
system was introduced without any planning. Now work has come to a standstill.”
The
Mirzapur district in the state leads all the other districts in terms of
implementation of the online payment system. The system has started in 48 gram
panchayats in Mirzapur.However, there are 809 panchayats in the district, so
the ratio is still skewed.
On
the other hand, in Khiri, Raebareli and Shamli, only one panchayat in each of
these districts has started with the online payment system. Most of the gram
panchayats are suffering because of this transition.
Talking
about how the system works, Pradeep Kumar Maurya, gram Pradhan from Azampur
village in Sant Kabir Nagar district said, “The village heads have two accounts
— one is a state fund, the other is the fund created under the 14th
Finance Commission. Both are not accepting cheque payment and both are not
functioning because the dongles have not been made available. Not a single
village head was trained for this transition.”
He
added: “It’s not too late. The government can still train us.”
Representational image
However,
even those gram panchayats where the online system has started, they are facing
difficulties.
“The
dongal system has been installed, but we are not able to withdraw funds. I have
heard that many payments have been cancelled,” said Bhuri Devi, the village
head of Midhakur gram panchayat.
When
we spoke to Hemant Yadav,the Block Development Officer of Fatehpur block in
Barabanki district, he said: “This is a new system which is why the pradhans
are facing so many issues. We have trained them. They will learn.”
Reacting
to this story, Bhupendra Singh, Uttar Pradesh Panchayati Raj minister, said on
Twitter, “We have adopted this online payment system under the Public Fund and
Management System. Because it’s a new system, they are facing these glitches.
Soon, the system will work smoothly.”
