Manipur becomes first State to take up EFT
Source: The Sangai Express / DIPR
Imphal, June 01 2016:
Manipur has become the first State in the entire North East to take up Electronic Fund Transfer for Government payments in big way using Electronic Clearing Services (Credit) of Reserve Bank of India.
In consultation with RBI, payment of monthly salaries of employees and other personal entitlements are done through Electronic Clearing Services (Credit) from October 2009 .
RBI not only appreciated Manipur for being a model State by leading the other States in the North East for making ECS (Credit) for salary payment but also awarded the "Jury Special Mention" (which was the second prize) at the "2nd e-North East Awards, 2011" in a function held at RIELIT, Kohima, Nagaland on November 25, 2011 for the project on "The Payment of salary through ECS (Credit) for the Government Employees of Manipur" in the category of "ICT & Financial Inclusion" .
Further, other forms/versions of electronic payments like Regional Electronic Clearing System (RECS) of payments for salaries and pensions, National Electronic Fund Transfer (NEFT), Real time Gross Settlement (RTGS) and Cash Management Product (CMP) of SBI have been introduced successfully in the State.
The main objective of the entire shift in payments is to enhance transparency in fund transfer, ease of doing financial transactions and to develop a trail of fund flow.
Computerization of all Treasuries was initiated during the year 2005-2006 with funding by the 11th Finance Commission.
Treasuries in Manipur are among the first offices to be fully computerised in the State.
The hardware installations were taken up along with computerisation for bill passing through "TreasuryNet" software.
Computerization of pension database and payments for all pensioners of Manipur was taken up during 2007-08, and it has helped in computerised pension calculation, life digital photography of pensioners replacing manual and lengthy procedures.
Computerisation of pension payment was initiated for eradicating the inefficiencies of manual pension payment system, thereby reducing delays in pension disbursement and removing fraudulent practices.
There are at present around 48000 pensioners/family pensioners.
Manipur is the only State in the North East where pension preparation is done by the Treasuries.
In recognition of this work, the Directorate of Treasuries & Accounts, Manipur has been felicitated as the award winner at the 3rd e-North East Award, 2012 held at Gangtok, Sikkim on November 22-23, 2012 .
The National Pension System (NPS) was introduced in the State for the Government employees joining the State service on or after Jan 1, 2005.Till date there are around 23,500 NPS subscribers in the State.
The Directorate of Treasuries and Accounts ensures regular credit of contributions to the respective NPS Subscribers' Accounts.
During the Financial Year 2015-16, a huge backlog of NPS contributions of employees of the Government of Manipur has been successfully credited to the respective subscriber accounts.
Prompt action as regards timely submission of NPS related registrations and contributions have been taken up by subscribers as well as DDOs following the awareness.
Records are the backbone of any Government office and the management of these records stand between an efficient office from the other offices.
The Treasury/Sub-Treasury Offices have large volume of records related with financial transactions of various offices.
Concept of cataloguing of records and using colour codes for easy identification has been introduced.
It has been a revolution in record management in Treasuries as any record can be retrieved within few minutes.
All Pension Payment Orders (PPOs) have been kept using locker system (vertical shelve lock system) from January 2010 onwards.
Treasury offices are among the first offices in the State after Archives and Library to introduce proper records management.
Besides, the Treasuries are doing various activities.
The Directorate of Treasuries & Accounts exercises overall administrative control and supervision over the functioning of all Treasuries/Sub-Treasuries in the State.
Treasury/Sub-Treasury Officers are directly involved in passing of bills, challan receipts, payment of monthly pensions, passing of pension bills, with due diligence on one hand and compilation of accounts thereafter for submission to AG, Manipur.
There are at present 18 offices under the Directorate of Treasuries and Accounts which includes the Directorate office, 11 District Treasuries and 6 Sub-Treasuries.
Out of the 17 Treasu- ries/Sub-Treasuries, Jiribam Treasury is functioning as non-banking treasury and the rest are banking treasuries.