Itanagar Smart City Development Corporation Limited (ISCDCL) in collaboration with National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) conducted a two-day workshop on digital payments for the merchants or vendors and government departments of Itanagar Smart City. The workshop concluded on Thursday at the State Banquet Hall.
The workshop was conducted as part of the ‘100-day Challenge in 100 Smart Cities’ undertaken by the Union Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs to create the required awareness among the merchants or vendors and government departments in adopting digital modes of payment.
Subsequent to the challenge, the municipal corporations in smart cities will be conferred the ‘Smart Cities Digital Payments Awards 2018’.
The challenge started on July 1 and ends on October 30. Itanagar Smart City is among the two smart cities from the Northeast to have qualified in the first stage.
Addressing the gathering of merchants and vendors on the first day of the programme as the chief guest, NeraTechi, the PLO to the Chief Minister, emphasized on adoption of smart ways for handling finance as they are major contributors to the Itanagar Smart City.
The event saw participation from Itanagar Market Welfare Association, Naharlagun Bazaar Welfare Committee, Nirjuli Market Welfare Committee, Banderdewa Bazaar Welfare Committee, All Arunachal Pradesh Hawkers and Street Vendors’ Federation.
The programme on the second day for government departments was inaugurated by Prince Dhawan, DC-ICC cum CEO of Smart City.
He said that digital payment is a crucial enabler for smart cities and could provide significant benefits to citizens, businesses and state governments.
He also said that all the government departments must enable digital payments acceptance infrastructure at every physical point of contact with citizens, especially the revenue collecting departments.
Digital payment is a way of payment in which both payer and payee use digital modes to send and receive money. It does not include cash, cheque or any other paper-based payment instrument.