Photo Credits: CASHLESS
--------------------------
CASHLESS BLOCK
--------------------------
IN GOA
* 5 lakh power consumers
ONLINE PAYMENT
* Only 22,000 consumers
IN PANAJI
* Around 24,000 consumers
CLICK OF MOUSE
* Hardly 5 pc in capital city
------------------
The government’s cashless drive has a large hole. It has failed to convince electricity consumers to use the online facility to pay bills.
Of the 5 lakh consumers in the State only 22,000 pay their bills online, which is less than 5 per cent.
The situation is no better in the capital city which was recently included in the smart city scheme of the Union government.
“We have around 24,000 consumers in Panaji, however, hardly 5 per cent of them pay their bills online,” informed an official from the billing section of Goa Electricity Department’s Panaji office.
Like everyone else, he hoped that the cashless drive would push more consumers on line.
In an endeavour to deliver e-payment facilities to consumers electricity department in association with the Department of Information Technology had enabled online payment of bills through the state portal (https://www.goa.gov.in).
When the system was enabled in 2015 it was hoped that the long queues outside the billing centres would be a thing of the past. But not many had opted for this system and most consumers still preferred to pay their electricity and water bills in person.
One of the issues is computer and internet penetration. “We don’t have internet facility at home and our mobile banking apps don’t work as there’s no range,” complained a Chimbel resident who pays his bills in cash and in person.
“I keep a record of my bills and if I pay in cash, I can get my receipt in hard copy immediately, so I prefer to stand in the queue and pay my electricity and water bill in person,” an elderly consumer from Margao stated.
Welcoming the move of the government to implement and encourage the system of online payment of bills, a private sector employee from Panaji said, “I pay my electricity bills through mobile banking apps. Once you get accustomed to these apps, everything seems easy. It also saves time and energy.”
“I use uPayGoa for paying my electricity bills online but pay my water bill in cash,” says another consumer from Mapusa, adding, “Since PayZapp and Paytm do not show logos of the electricity PWD departments (as service providers) on their list, I cannot use these gateways. For consumers to use these mobile banking apps, the vendors or service providers must be enlisted with them.”
The government had announced that with this facility, electricity and water consumers will be able to pay their respective bills through credit and debit cards and internet banking through any bank. The service charge to avail e-payments by debit cards and internet banking was to be absorbed by the government, while the service charges for credit card payments were to be levied on the consumer. The government proposed to use the State Bank of India payment gateway, but it did not materialize.
When asked why customers are facing problems in paying bill online, an officer from the accounts section said, “There was no option of payment through RuPay on the website and since the RuPay card was not linked with the billing and payments, it was not possible to accept payments through State Bank of India payment gateway.”
