VASCO: As Goa prepares for cashless society concept, a vada pav seller in Vasco has led the way by becoming the first cashless handcart in the port town.
According to Rahim Rajani, who operates the handcart on the roadside opposite the Vasco Railway Station and sells vada pav besides other snacks and other dishes prepared with egg, chicken since last several years realized the importance of going cashless and became the first such joint operator in port town to offer cashless payment facility (Paytm) at his stall.
“Our customers are mostly the railway commuters and since the time Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced his demonetization decision, we started facing loss as our business was hit by 50 percent. Even we noticed that the customers were facing hardships as ATMs in Vasco had no sufficient cash. To overcome such a situation, we decided to opt for modern method of business and linked our business with Paytm facility and we started recovering from daily losses,” Rajani said.
He further said that “To discourage cash transactions and to encourage cashless transactions, I only request to the government to withdraw surcharge, service charge and convenience fee on card and digital payments as many others like me would be happy to go cashless.”
Today, Rajani has become the first and the only handcart operator in port town offering cashless payment facility at his stall and in days to come even other handcart operators and shops in port town have been making moves to go cashless.
Appreciating the efforts of Rajani, Mormugao Municipal Council (MMC) chairperson Deepak Naik said, “It is good to note that a vada pav seller has realized the importance of going cashless. We hope that even other handcarts operators in Vasco will take similar steps at the earliest. From MMC’s side, we have already taken few joint meetings with vegetable as well as fruit vendors and with the help of bank officials we have tried to make them aware of the benefits of cashless transactions and I hope that by December 31 2016, even the vendors in different markets would opt for cashless transactions”.
