Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore   

50 BWSSB kiosks by Dec. 31

By Our Staff Reporter

BANGALORE NOV. 25. The Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB) has said that of the 100 multi-utility kiosks it plans to set up, 50 will be installed by December 31.

The Chairman of the BWSSB, M.N. Vidyashankar, said here that areas such as Malleswaram and Jayanagar could get more than one kiosk "depending on the user density and need". The kiosks would be set up under "Bangalore 1," a project to help citizens make multi-utility payments at one place. The BWSSB would coordinate with the Department of E-Governance under the project.

He said the Government found that it would not be able to implement Bangalore 1 by this year end as was envisaged in its memorandum of understanding with the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. So, the BWSSB would incorporate Bangalore 1 into its plan to set up 100 kiosks, he said.

But Mr. Vidyashankar told The Hindu that as of now, he had no information on whether money from the foundation would go into installing the machines and the kiosks. "The BWSSB will spend Rs. 5.4 lakh per machine and an extra Rs. 2.5 lakh on the kiosk. So, we estimate the total expenses to be around Rs. 9 crore," he said. Only 100 kiosks and not 200 as was reported elsewhere would be set up, he added. "We had originally planned to install 100 kiosks to accept BWSSB, BESCOM, and BSNL bills. The only difference is that it will now be under the banner of Bangalore 1 with the added involvement of the Bangalore Mahanagara Palike and the Transport Department," he said.

The BWSSB Chairman maintained that the project was more advanced than the "e-seva" project being implemented in Andhra Pradesh. "Our kiosk will function 24-hours-seven-days-a-week. We will accept cash, credit/debit cards, DD, and cheques," he said.

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