In the past there were several options (cash, drafts, cheques) and places (electricity offices and several banks) where the electricity bills could be paid. Then slowly, the Electricity Department in their wisdom did away with the banks leading to chaos and long lines of people standing to pay their bills at the Electricity Department offices.
Subsequently, online payment based on software developed by Goa government was introduced. Although, there were initial glitches but later it worked very smoothly. In the last one year or so, that software was ditched and the online payment gateway was gifted to a private bank and a cooperative bank. At the beginning, the online gateway of these two banks worked fine but in the recent past there are problems. For example, if the bill amount is Rs 360, the private bank’s gateway says it should be at least Rs 1,500 (or some large figure). When the page is refreshed the system says that the amount should be more than Rs 360. On changing the amount to Rs 362, the system displays some weird figures.
The gateway of the cooperative bank worked for a one month and now this too is erratic. Why did the government shelve their own software which was developed using a large manpower, resources and cost? Why was the bill payment gateway handed on a platter to private players? What was the cost or gain to the State government by doing so? The authorities should rethink their decision and go back to their previous friendly payment mode. Let us realistically implement ‘Swayampurna Goa’, both in acts and spirit and not just by wordy ideals.
