The civic administration has already completed the pilot project, with 100 transactions across Mumbai for payment of tax bills for a minimum amount by way of SMSes. Citizens will be required to purchase an ITZ card — a pre-paid cash card — for the bill payment.
After making the bill payment facility available on its website, this is the second option that the civic body will provide citizens. The BMC has tied up with State Bank of India (SBI) for the initiative. The card, with a rate of Rs 100 to Rs 20,000, acts like a pre-paid phone card and can be purchased for the amount of bill payment needed to be made.
For instance, if the bill amount is Rs 500, then an ITZ card of the same amount can be purchased. This card will have a 16-digit number, which will be revealed after scratching. Citizens will be required to send an SMS to a fixed number like 57575 and the property tax or water bill number (SAC or CN number).
This SMS will reach the BMC IT control room at Worli, following which an SMS will be sent back to the user confirming the receipt of the SMS and the pending amount of the bill. The user will be then required to send a second SMS with the 16-digit transaction number of the ITZ card and the amount for which he is making the payment. A second SMS will be sent by BMC thanking the customer for the bill payment.
BMC will also charge citizens Rs 10 or more for the bill, to be couriered to their residence. “We are urging citizens to pay Rs 10 and take a hard copy of the receipt, so that in future there are no problems for the record of payment of bills. The receipt will have details about the bill amount and extra money for the courier,” said Joint Municipal Commissioner (Improvement) V Radha.
The facility can still be availed informally by citizens. However, the BMC is waiting for the formal approval of the proposal with ITZ and SBI. After handing of the Letter of Intent (LoI), the project will be launched.
ITZ will be required to deposit a certain amount of cash in the BMC treasury and more money will be deposited as the transactions supercede the amount. The civic administration’s proposal is currently in the final stages of approval.
BMC hopes to launch the project formally by January 1. Property tax bills have already been issued to citizens for the second half of the year from October and this facility will be helpful after its launch.
There are approximately 3 lakh customers who make property and water tax payments to the BMC. According to a study by the civic administration, around 80 per cent of Mumbaiites use mobile phones while those having access to the Internet is a mere 11 per cent.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Shweta Desai
Quelle/Source: Expressindia, 12.12.2008
