Soon, get monthly water bills, pay on doorstep

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, January 21

Soon, residents will get monthly water bills, instead of bimonthly, and will be able to pay on their doorstep.

In a first, the Municipal Corporation has decided to send monthly bills for water usage and garbage collection, and extend the facility of paying charges on doorstep based on the actual reading on meters at that time.

The on-the-spot billing move has been planned to cut on expenses and manpower, besides providing the residents the convenience of doorstep payment. With the new system of monthly payment, there will be no loss of interest on bill amount caused due to bimonthly bills.

The MC staff will visit residences, take reading from water meters and receive payment through UPI or debit cards. Residents, who do not want to pay right away, may pay their bills later.

At present, the civic body sends bills to the residents through the National Institute of Electronics and Information Technology (NIELIT). It pays Rs 3 lakh per month to the institute for the job.

“All this is being done at no additional cost. We are going to tie up with a bank, which is going to enable us to make these payments,” said an MC official.

Meanwhile, MC Commissioner Anindita Mitra said, “We are going to invite expression of interest (EOI) in this regard by February-end. With this system, we will take payment based on the actual reading while the residents, who used to get bills on an average basis, will continue to pay like that. The system should get implemented within a few weeks.”

Procedure

• MC staff will take readingfrom water meters
• Receive payment throughUPI or debit card
• Residents, who do not want to pay right away,may pay their bills later

How MC will benefit

• Will be able to cut on expenses (Rs 3L paid to NIELIT per month) and manpower
• There will be no loss of interest on bill amount caused due to bimonthly bills

Bills to carry all details

Officials said they would ensure that all descriptions about charges are there in the bills in detail, so that there is no confusion. “Each charge or challan amount, if any, will be described in detail,” said an official.

Average bills to continue

We will take payment based on the actual reading while the residents, who used to get bills on an average basis, will continue to pay like that. The system should get implemented within a few weeks. — Anindita Mitra, MC Commissioner