The Hindu 11.11.2013
Pay online and get water delivered at doorstep
SBT will send SMS for water tanker after e-payment
The Kerala Water Authority (KWA), in an attempt to
improve its services in the capital city, is looking at ways to have
water delivered to customers at their doorsteps via Net-banking and SMS.
The
move, announced by Water Resources Minister P.J. Joseph during the
launch of the Peroorkada section officeof the KWA on the
Peroorkada-Civil Station road here recently, is gaining momentum with
the utility already finalising procedures with the State Bank of
Travancore. This will enable citizens to pay the required amount of
money to the SBT via Net-banking, after which the bank will alert the
KWA through a message about the payment so that a KWA water tanker can
reach the customer at the earliest. “The bank account for this has been
opened and the account number will be made public once the internal
alert system is in place,” P. Sreekumaran Nair, Chief Engineer (South),
KWA, said.
Steps are also in place to enable
customers send an SMS to the KWA on 85476 38181 to book tankers. These
facilities are for emergency situations when normal supply is disrupted
or for customers who do not have water connections.
The
present system, KWA officials point out, was cumbersome and fraught
with delays. Customers would have to make payments at the Vellayambalam
office of the KWA and then wait indefinitely. The delays were prompting
them to depend on private tankers, which in turn fleeced the public. The
new systems, it was hoped, would tackle this issue.
The
KWA, according to Mr. Nair, was also in discussion with banks to
install card-swiping machines or card readers at its counters to enable
customers to use their cash cards to make bill payments. This would help
more customers make use of cash counters of the KWA, which now accepted
bill payments from all sections. The holiday counter at Vellayambalam,
which functioned from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., was drawing huge crowds, Mr.
Nair said. On Saturday, 144 persons paid their bills, totalling over
Rs.1 lakh.
