'Tipplers' better than ministers, babus on digital front: Chandrababu Naidu

Amaravati: Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu took a dig at his Ministers and bureaucrats today for failing to switch over to cashless transactions even as he sarcastically hailed "tipplers" for quickly adapting the digital economy.

"Not even 25 per cent of you are making cashless transactions. How will the country reform if you are like this? It will not," Naidu remarked after he asked Ministers and bureaucrats who switched to digital economy to raise their hands at a meeting here.

Not many hands went up in the meeting attended by Ministers and over 200 bureaucrats at the Secretariat this afternoon. "That is the biggest challenge. Mind set. Your mindset has to change," he quipped.

"See how liquor shops are using point of sale (PoS) machines. A drunkard's mind will not work if he doesn't drink by evening. That (drinking) gives him the kick, so he has learnt to make cashless transactions. He learnt it because of the need," the Chief Minister observed.

"You all, too, should switch to digital economy."

The Chief Minister, heading a 13-member Central committee on digital transactions, said they had committed a mistake by transferring welfare pensions to the beneficiaries' bank accounts.

"From next month, pensions will be delivered in cash in two instalments of Rs 500 each," he said, in view of the troubles being faced by pensioners in getting money post-demonetisation.