Here’s a good news. The e-governance project of Hopcoms has designed a system to inform customers of the prices of vegetables and fruit on a day-to-day basis by SMS. The new system is set to be implemented by May.
For starting up the process of implementing the SMS alerts of price lists, Hopcoms has sought technical assistance from the National Informatics Centre.
Once the system is up and running, customers can get information about the price lists for the day by sending an SMS with the text ‘Hopcoms veg’ to a number which is yet to be announced, for the rates at which vegetables are available, and ‘Hopcoms fruits’ for the rates of fruit.
Prices of vegetables and fruits are determined by Hopcoms officials every morning. A consolidated price list is then circulated to all outlets. The price list will also be exhibited at every Hopcoms outlet, said N Jayaram, director of the department of horticulture.
The SMS service will be granted free to all customers, for a year. “We had thought about implementing this system for a while. We were looking forward to a tie-up to provide the technical expertise. Customers can now expect the service to be ready by May,” said Jayaram.
The idea of introducing the SMS price list came in response to suggestions and complaints from the public about the rates being different at different Hopcoms outlets. The new system, officials hope, will make the whole pricing process more transparent.
There are, however, sceptics. Preethy Menezes, a working mother, said, “This sounds good as a system. Much, however, will depend on its implementation.”
Shashikala S, a homemaker, said, “The main problem is that whenever there are hikes in the rates of petrol and diesel, the price of vegetables and fruit goes up too. Even so, there are times when tomatoes, for instance, are priced at different levels at different outlets; sometimes the rates differ even between two Hopcoms outlets.”
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Odeal D'Souza
Quelle/Source: Daily News & Analysis, 28.04.2011
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