Soon, Puducherry residents can pay their water bills through UPI

PWD in Puducherry to launch UPI for online water bill payments. Two banks have responded to the proposal. Bharat Bill Payment System to be rolled out in a month. SBI Collect also available for online payments. PWD to launch own web portal for water/sewerage connections in 6 months. UPI to reduce queues, improve service for consumers.

The Public Works Department (PWD) in Puducherry will soon be rolling out the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) system for online payment of water bills in the city, and its peripheral areas. The PWD will launch the facility in a month’s time, and two banks have responded to the proposal to provide the UPI mode of payment for water bills.

According to a senior official of PWD, “Many consumers face difficulties in paying their water bills through the 24 bill counters in the city and its peripheral areas. In addition, the workload is heavy for staff, as huge queues gather for payments during the payment deadline each month. The UPI mode was considered to improve service for consumers. The Indian Overseas Bank and HDFC Bank have responded to the proposal, and the the Bharat Bill Payment System will be rolled out in a month’s time.”

The official added, “This facility will be in addition to the online payment mode where consumers made payments through SBI Collect. Residents have to open the website onlinesbi.sbi, and click on the link EE Public Health Division, Puducherry. This will take them to the multi-modal payment portal of the bank.”

The Public Health Division of the PWD will also soon be launching its own web portal for water and sewerage connections. The portal will be an online single-window system developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) for the PWD. Members of the public can log into the portal and submit applications for new water and sewerage connections, raise complaints, make payments for various services of the PWD and read the rules and regulations. The portal will be launched in six months.