Water bills to go cashless soon in Hyderabad

Hyderabad: The Hyderabad Metropolitan Water Supply and Sewerage Board (HMWS&SB) is heading towards facilitating cashless payments for its 7.35 lakh consumers. Board officials have decided to develop a dedicated mobile application wherein pending payments for the purpose.

Officials are also holding discussions with private players to facilitate QR (quick response) codes using which field staff can collect the bill payment.

The board had in 2012 introduced RTGS (Real-Time Gross Settlement) and NEFT (National Electronic Fund Transfer). This worked only for the business class and consumers who possess commercial drinking water connection due to its cumbersome process.

Five years later, in 2017, it has decided to upgrade the online payment system. It had initially proposed to introduce cashless transactions through T-Wallet. The move did not materialise.

The board then agreed to accept payment through debit cards from consumers via bill collectors would come to their doorstep with e-PoS machines. This too did not materialise.

In the new system, bill collectors equipped with QR code readers would visit the consumers between the first and 15th of every month not only to generate bills but also to collect payments with the QR readers. If the consumers so choose, the bill collectors would just issue the bill which the consumers can pay through the dedicated app.

A senior Water Board official said that about 2.5 lakh consumers had availed of the 20-KL-a-month free drinking water scheme. These consumers are mostly slum dwellers who find it difficult to make payments through mobile applications or QR scanners.

The remaining 7.35 lakh consumers could utilise the e-payment facility to be provided by the Water Board. “This would not only encourage citizens to make hassle-free online payments but also eradicate the ground-level corruption,” an official said, adding “We are in consultation with private players and cashless payment would be announced soon."