In a major initiative aimed at ensuring transparency, the Panchayati Raj department of Uttarakhand has decided that all payments by Panchayats would be made online from the Public Finance Management System (PFMS) platform. It would end the system of payment by cheques and other modes by the Panchayats. On Wednesday, an online training and review meeting on PFMS, presided over by the Joint Secretary, ministry of Panchayati Raj, Government of India, Sanjeev Patjoshi was organised. In the meeting additional secretary and director Panchayati Raj, Uttarakhand, Harish Chandra Semwal and District Panchayati Raj officers of all 13 districts and other officials participated.
In the meeting, Patjoshi emphasised that the payments should be made by integration of PFMS and Priya -Soft. He appreciated the fact that bank accounts of all 7791 Panchayats in Uttarakhand are linked with the PFMS platform. Patjoshi added that the payment process should be initiated after geo -tagging.
He said the GST registration of the Panchayats would be made compulsory in the near future. The officer said that the issue of cyber security should also be catered to prevent online frauds. He added that the banks which are associated with village, block and district Panchayats should not be changed. In the meeting more than 150 delegates that included officers of Panchayati Raj department and officials of Indus -Ind bank participated.
