Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) Mayor Md Atiqul Islam said, 'DNCC has launched Smart Haat’ as a pilot project. For the first time, Tk 33 crore were transacted in the channels of various banks and financial service providers. I request all concerned including Bangladesh Bank to look into these issues and find solutions to the challenges.
Pointing out that how to increase it further in the future through digital media, work should be done and he said, 'through this, not only transactions will be done easily, but people can transact huge sums of money safely. The cattle market of Gabtali will also be brought under the purview of digital transactions. People will benefit from it.
He said these things in the president's speech at the 'Smart Haat, Smart Bangladesh result announcement and experience exchange event' organized by Gulashan-2 Nagar Bhaban in the capital on Wednesday.
DNCC Mayor said, 'Gabatli is a permanent cattle market for us. Animals are sold here throughout the year. Traders brought animals from different parts of the country. So we want to make it smart and we won't take much time to do it.”
Mayor Md. Atiqul Islam said, 'When a farmer comes to the city with his animals, they actually suffer a lot. He also has the thought of selling the animals and returning home safely with the money. We have provided this digital transaction so that a farmer can go safely with money on the go. As a result, farmers no longer have to carry cash.'
He urged the citizens to make DNCC a smart city by adopting online services.
He said, "If you see open manhole cover, dirt on the pavement, waterlogging and other problems, please take a picture and upload it on the 'Sabar Dhaka' app.
I promise we will resolve it within 24 hours.
Besides, he mentioned that smart LED lights are widely used to save electricity. He said, 'By dimming the lights, we are saving 50 percent of electricity from 8:00 to 12:00 and 65 percent from 12:00 to 4:00 at night. We are working in various ways to save electricity. But battery powered rickshaws are wasting that electricity. We have decided to take action against battery-powered rickshaws by conducting operations.'
Mayor Atiqul said, 'Many people park their cars everywhere. This creates chaos on the road. To get out of this location, on-street smart parking will be arranged for 500 cars on trial basis at Gulshan-Banani.
In response to the journalist's question, the DNCC mayor said, '28 thousand rickshaw licenses were given in Dhaka city. But now there are more than ten lakh rickshaws running. They are not in order, there is no database. So we have decided to give up the previous unregistered rickshaws and register two lakh rickshaws with new QR codes.'
At the end of the ceremony everyone was awarded a crest based on the best.
Among others, Executive Director of Bangladesh Bank Khurshid Alam, senior officials of six banks participating in the Smart Hut, representatives of related organizations including Bikash, MasterCard, Visa, lessees of six animal huts, councilors and senior officials of DNCC were present in the event.
