Lanura Budgam village is located at a distance of 24 Kms from Srinagar city. The village was declared to be the first ‘cashless’ village by J&K Government on 18 December 2016. The declaration of Lanura being a cashless village stunned local villagers. The village lacks basic facilities, like electricity infrastructure, water, metallic road and other amenities of life, says a villager, Ghulam Mohammad. The villagers are poverty stricken and a very few people use smartphones and internet. Locals are aghast over the announcement and demand a probe into the matter.
The district administration Budgam under its handout released on its official website maintains that the ‘feat’ was achieved through “rigorous efforts by CSC e-Governance Services India Limited and National Informatics Centre (NIC) under the objective of Digital Financial Inclusion.” With a few shops scattered across this village, the people could be seen doing cash transactions. Apparently, NIC Budgam’s District Informatics Officer has been awarded for this ‘achievement’ recently in New Delhi.
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