Bhubaneswar has been shortlisted by the ministry of housing and urban affairs for the Digital Payments Award, a national level competition.
The motive behind the award is to boost the usage of digital payment system among citizens in smart cities.
The completion was started by the Central Government in July for promoting digital payments in 100 smart cities in 100 days. In adherence to the guidelines, the Bhubaneswar Smart City Limited (BSCL) submitted its proposal in September and has been shortlisted to enter in the second stage of the competition.
Apart from Bhubaneswar, Rourkela Smart City Limited had also submitted its proposal for the competition, but it did not reach the second round. The city will now compete to get rewarded in three categories namely best digital payments adopter, best digital payments innovator and fastest growing smart city focusing on digital payments.
“We have submitted the proposal according to the guideline and are happy to got selected for the second round. We have been promoting the online payment system for various services and also added the facilities of bill payment and other websites. We are hopeful of getting the award for our initiatives,” said a smart city official.
Along with the promotion of the digital payment system, the administration’s expectations for the award from the Centre is high, especially for its latest innovation i.e the Odyssey Payment Card, an ATM-like card that can be used for making payments ranging from bus fares to utility bill.
“The Odyssey Card is one of the milestone projects for us under the smart city mission. It is one card that can be used for making payments for an array of services. We are the first one to introduce such a card for the citizens here. We will start issuing the card shortly,” said Ananta Narayan Jena, Mayor, Bhubaneswar.
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