Govenrment is also introducing schemes to incentivise online banking transactions and curb cash crunch.
Government employees in BJP-ruled Haryana have a new mandate and they are not pleased. Each employee has to make at least one digital transaction per week, the record of which will be compiled in a compliance report and sent to a nodal officer.
"All officers/branch heads will also encourage their staff to use digital transaction technology and do at least one transaction within seven days. The officers have also been asked collect certificates from their staff that they have made at least one transaction from their mobile phones within a week," said a government communique.
The employee unions argue that it's not just about the digital know-how but the decision does not take into consideration the fact that many low-rung employees don't even have smart phones.
"The government has pushed its employees into this decision without doing any ground work, most of the 3rd and 4th class employees don't have smart phones and there is no mention about who will foot the bill for internet data pack on the phone. The government should have first trained the staff and assured to pay for the internet bill before making any announcement," said Subhash Lamba, General Secretary of the Sarv Karmchari Sangh.
But state health minister Anil Vij told NDTV that decision is in sync with the government's mission to empower its employees digitally. He claims that the employees are with the government on this.
The Haryana Government has also tied up with the State Bank of India to provide free card swipe machines to its departments across the state.
Since the November 8 ban on 500 and 1,000 rupee notes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged people to opt for cashless transactions while asking for 50 days for his government to end the cash crunch after endless queues were seen outside ATMs and banks which are gradually receding.
Among the schemes to incentivise online banking, a discount of 0.75 per cent on petrol and diesel will kick-in today on fuel purchases from PSUs made using credit or debit cards.
But the opposition Congress has accused the Modi government of shifting goal posts on the motive behind notes ban; from fight against black money earlier to push for digital banking.