ITANAGAR: Sixteen more towns in Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday onboarded the e-billing and payment platform of the state power department, with Chief Minister Pema Khandu and Deputy Chief Minister Chowna Mein launching it in a simple ceremony here. With this, consumers in 25 urban towns in the state would have the facility to pay their electricity bills online through any digital payment system. “This is a huge step towards digitally equipping the people, and I compliment the department of power for it,” Khandu said after the launch. He expressed confidence that the facility would not only relieve consumers of the burden of physically going to power department offices to pay their bills but also instill transparency and accountability in the department. “Digital payment system is the best option to prevent any revenue leak, thus boosting our revenue generation. As the power department will be the highest revenue-generating department in the near future, once all proposed hydropower projects are completed, the use of information technology in the collection of revenue is a must,” Khandu observed.
At the request of the department for the establishment of an independent division or cell for its IT-based consumer services, Khandu informed that the proposal was with him and that he would approve it at the earliest. Mein, who also holds the power and hydro-power portfolios, while speaking on the overall power scenario of the state, said that the state has surplus power but is unable to reap its benefits due to a lack of proper transmission lines. “Laying of transmission lines is moving at a very slow pace as about 80 per cent of the state’s area comes under reserve forests. We have taken up the issue with the Union Ministry of Power and are working on a way out. Once transmission lines are in place, there won’t be any power shortage,” he informed. Departmental officials informed that with the onboarding of 16 towns on the online payment platform, the state has covered 25 of its 49 notified urban towns, for a total of 1,17,579 consumers.
The 16 towns connected during the day include Tawang, Bomdila, Dirang, Basar, Koloriang, Boleng, Yingkiong, Sagalee, Changlang, Longding, Miao, Jairampur, Deomali, Khonsa, Anini, and Hawai. Nine towns—Itanagar, Naharlagun, Daporijo, Ziro, Aalo, Pasighat, Roing, Tezu, and Namsai—were onboarded in the first phase. To mark the launch, one consumer from each of the 16 towns paid their electricity bills online and attended the ceremony virtually from their respective places. The department has also operationalized a customer care centre since June 2020 that can be reached by dialling ‘1912’, which is available as of now from 9.30 a.m. to 4 p.m. on all working days. Consumers can also reach out for services through the department’s social media handles on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter (now ‘X’). To make its app customer-friendly, the department is in the process of developing a new app for bill payment, which will be ready by September next . Likewise, the department is also revamping its web portal to dynamic mode. The aim is to make 100% digital billing and payment available to all categories of consumers by March 2025. While cabinet minister Wangki Lowang and legislators Balo Raja, Lokam Tassar, and Dassanglu Pul were present physically during the ceremony, several legislators, district officials, and consumers joined it online.
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