Maternity allowances for the poor women were brought under mobile cash transactions as the government launched an electronic payment system on Thursday.
Finance Minister AMA Muhith inaugurated the government-to-persons (G2P) payment system as the chief guest at a function held at the Ministry of Finance in the city on the day.
Mr Muhith unveiled the programme for over 8,000 poor women of seven upazilas who received maternity allowances through the "MIS integrated G2P" payment system.
State Minister for Women and Children Affairs Meher Afroze Chumki and Women and Children Affairs Secretary Nasima Begum attended the launching ceremony as the special guests.
Finance Secretary Mohammad Muslim Chowdhury presided over it.
The seven upazilas including Sonargaon, Srinagar, Savar, Tungipara, Kaliganj and Bhoirab have been brought under a pilot project. While speaking at the function, Mr Muhith said Bangladesh is moving forward by taking advantage of the technology which is growing fast.
"We cannot imagine what will happen tomorrow in terms of technological advancement," he said terming the rapid changes in the technology "absolutely revolution."
Through the electronic system, the poor women will receive money within a short time and without any hassles.
During the function, the beneficiaries were connected to Skype. Speaking on the occasion, Meher Afroze Chumki said the electronic payment system will help ensure transparency in the process of providing allowances to the poor women.
The electronic payment system will play an important role in implementing the social safety net programmes, she said, adding that in such way, Bangladesh will achieve Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The poor women got all allowances without any hassles and received SMS. Then they could cash it through mobile cash transfer services.
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