End of the line: Ludhiana MC trades queues for clicks

Ludhiana: In a major boost to digitalisation and facilitating the residents in paying their dues at their doorsteps, mayor Inderjit Kaur and senior deputy mayor Rakesh Prashar launched e-POS machines at MC Zone D office in Sarabha Nagar on Thursday. With this, Municipal Corporation (MC) has become the first civic body in the state to start accepting digital payments through e-POS machines at the doorsteps of the residents. Apart from cash, the residents would be able to make digital payments through cards/UPI too.Zonal commissioner Jasdev Singh Sekhon, zonal superintendent Vivek Verma among other officials were present on the occasion. The civic body officials said that till now the residents had to visit the civic body offices for making payments, but now the civic body teams would also move to field with e-POS machines. This will not only save the time of residents, but it will also encourage transparency in accepting payments.Not only property tax, the residents would also be able to pay trade license fee and rent of MC properties online through the POS machines. Payments can be made through cards/UPI too and receipts generated through the machines would be handed over to the residents. Training of the field staff is going on and the teams with e-POS machines will move to the field in the coming few days.Mayor Inderjit Kaur and senior deputy mayor Rakesh Prashar said that in total 48 e-POS machines are being provided to the staff (12 in each zone of MC). They shared that civic body has been working to promote digitalisation and this initiative will further improve transparency and efficiency. Directing the officials to expedite the recovery of dues from the residents, Mayor Inderjit Kaur said that the civic body would also be organising camps in different parts of the city to facilitate the residents in paying their dues.The mayor appealed to the residents to pay their dues including property tax and water-sewer bills in time to avoid penalty. Residents must pay property tax by March 31 to avoid penalty.