Raigad. Raigad district of Chhattisgarh has emerged as a new example. Finance Minister O. Under the guidance of P. Chaudhary, it has become the first such district in the state, where tax and fee in gram panchayats are now being paid through digital medium i.e. UPI. Villagers are now easily paying from their mobile phones like property tax, market fee, water tax and hygiene tax.
Raigad district has given a new direction to the rural governance by transporting the digital payment system to the villages. The system of recovery of UPI based tax has been implemented in all 549 gram panchayats of the district. UPI QR codes have been installed in panchayat buildings and public places, due to which the villagers are getting their taxes sitting at home.
This system not only promoted transparency, but it has also increased the income of panchayats significantly. The then Collector Mr. Goyal gave a detailed presentation of this innovation model in front of the screening committee of the Prime Minister Award on 12 March 2025. He said that the UPI system has increased the tax collection by 117 percent compared to the last financial year. Tax recovery in many panchayats has increased more than double. Earlier, where the villagers had difficulty in manual payment, now they are able to pay easily from mobile.
05 out of 07 blocks of Raigad district are tribal dominated and here also this digital payment system has been implemented. The special thing is that 330 PVTG Birhor families have also started tax payments from UPI, which is being considered a major achievement towards digital inclusion. After the UPI system is implemented, people’s participation in gram sabhas has also increased. An analysis in three panchayats has shown that the presence of people in gram sabhas has increased by up to 57 percent. It is clear that villagers are now taking more interest in the panchayat system.
The transactions made by women self-help groups, BC Sakhis are also increasing continuously. In the year 2022-23, where a transaction of Rs 3969.30 lakh was done, it increased to 4236.50 lakhs in 2023-24 and by the end of February in 2025. Due to this initiative, there has been a lot of convenience in account maintenance, audit process and cash bookkeeping match in gram panchayats. The financial system has become more transparent and smooth due to the presence of digital records of each transaction. This initiative of Raigad district has now become a role model for the entire Chhattisgarh. Raigad district has become a symbol of Digital Panchayat government today, bringing the thinking of Digital India successfully.
Jitendra Yadav, Chief Executive Officer of District Panchayat said that Finance Minister O. Under the guidance of P. Chaudhary and the then Collector Karthikeya Goyal, the digital payment collection was started on a large scale in the panchayats of the district. People were made aware. Tax is being collected through QR code by linking the account of panchayats to UPI. Currently, under the leadership of Collector Mayank Chaturvedi, work is being done for digital tax collection in 100 percent panchayats of the district.
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