Chattogram City Corporation (CCC) Mayor Freedom Fighter Md. Rezaul Karim Chowdhury said that due to the 'Digital Haat' service in Chattogram’s Sagarika and Noor Nagar cattle markets, the activities of various criminal gangs centered around Qurbani's haat will be hampered and the buying and selling will also become safe and trouble-free.
CCC Mayor Rezaul was present as the chief guest at the inaugural press conference of 'Digital Haat' at Sena Kalyan Convention Center in the city on Tuesday.
CCC Mayor said that people come from far and wide to buy and sell animals in Qurbani cattle market. In the central area of this sacrificial market, various criminal gangs conduct various criminal activities including supplying fake notes, robbing cattle trucks, extorting money from customers. All types of financial services will be done digitally in the digital market, so the activities of this criminal circle will be reduced
Using the experience of these two haats, CCC will create cashless transaction facilities in all Qurbani haats. In line with the Prime Minister's plan to build a cashless Bangladesh, work is underway to turn Chittagong into a smart city. Such digital service initiative will help in reaping the benefits of Chattogram's huge economic potential and increase the rate of economic inclusion.”
Bangladesh Bank Executive Director ABM Zahurul Huda said, in keeping with the fourth industrial revolution, we need to make our payment system smart to make Bangladesh a smart country. We are fighting to build a 'Cashless Bangladesh' by digitizing the country's financial operations. Bangladesh Bank is working to make the transactions of permanent and weekly animal markets cashless across the country.
Mastercard Bangladesh Country Manager Syed Mohammad Kamal, Livestock Directorate Director Dr. Ashraful Alam Khan, Bangladesh Bank Payment System Department Director Motasem Billah, Additional Director Shah Ziaul Haque, Julia Chowdhury, Joint Director Rezaul Karim, Govt. Md. Amir Khosru, Salahuddin. Mahmud, Deputy Director Hasnat Ahsan, CCC Estate Officer Rezaul Karim, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited EVP Abdul Nasser, United Commercial Bank Senior Executive Vice President Md. Amanullah and representatives of various banks and financial institutions were present on the occasion.
It mentioned that Tk 70 thousand crores of cash is transacted in the Qurbani market. Dhaka North City Corporation has set up 6 booths for digital transactions for the first time in 2022 to eliminate the risk of cash transactions and to implement the government's plan to build Smart Bangladesh. In just 4 days of the service, 33 crores of rupees were digitally transacted. Utilizing this experience, the central bank has taken the initiative to expand this service in the Qurbani market of Dhaka North, South and Chattogram City Corporation. CCC is initially launching digital transaction booths at Sagarika and Noor Nagar housing cow markets this year. At these two booths, the buyers and sellers of Qurbani market will enjoy the benefits of ATM machines, mobile financial transaction services, digital banking etc.
In this program under Bangladesh Bank's 'Cashless Bangladesh' initiative in 2023, livestock sellers in 26 districts are being made aware of opening personal retail accounts. With the overall support of the Ministry of Fisheries and Livestock and the Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association, Bangladesh Bank has taken this program to promote digital transactions at Qurbani animal markets, especially through Bangla QR code, to bring the animal sellers under financial services at the grassroots level and to create opportunities for digital transactions at all levels for common buyers.
The total 10 banks in the country are AB Bank Limited, Bank Asia Limited, BRAC Bank Limited, Eastern Bank Limited, IFIC Bank Plc, Islami Bank Bangladesh Limited, Mutual Trust Bank Limited, Pubali Bank Limited, The City Bank Limited and United Commercial Bank PLC and three international payment schemes- Amex, Mastercard and Visa and 04 MFS providers Bkash, Nagad, Upay and Mcash are conducting awareness activities. Institutions participating in the program will set up digital booths in eight markets in Dhaka North and two in Chattogram, and will immediately transfer money from the buyer's account to the seller's account and work to reduce the use of cash in transactions. This will reduce the risk of cash transactions as well as create a digital footprint or record of the transactions. The record created will help the animal dealers to get various services and assistance including getting loans on easy terms in future.
