Engr. Abdul Basit Soomro said in a statement that improving revenue collection was impossible without digitising the collection of aabyana.
Engr. Abdul Basit Soomro Chairman of the Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) said e-billing is a crucial step in streamlining the collection of aabyana (water bills) from the farmers.
Soomro said in a statement released here on Monday following a meeting of the authority’s officers that improving revenue collection was impossible without digitising the collection of aabyana.
He recognised the Area Water Boards‘ (AWBs’) efforts in developing an e-billing software in just three months.
The chairman noted that the authority had difficulty compiling a database of consumers. However, he expressed the hope that the Sindh Revenue Department would provide information about the owners of the agricultural land in order to extend cooperation in that regard.
Soomro claimed that even though the authority wanted to increase the amount of money it collected through water bills, the amount of money still needed to run the authority was much higher and could only be covered by government funding.
According to SIDA’s General Manager Transition, Ghulam Mustafa Ujjar, officers from the authority were in contact with their counterparts in the Sindh Irrigation Department and the information technology specialists in the Punjab IT Department to enlist their support for digitization.
AWB Muhammad Owais Mahar, the general manager of Nara Canal, informed the audience that software had been created to produce the e-bills. However, he claimed that in order to upgrade the software, the authority needed information on consumers and sales records. He continued, “Once the authority receives the necessary information, the e-billing would start.”
Electronic billing, or e-billing, refers to the process of delivering and paying bills electronically, rather than through traditional paper-based methods. E-billing can take many forms, such as emailing a PDF version of a bill, providing access to an online account where the bill can be viewed and paid, or sending a text message notification with a link to an online payment portal.
E-billing can be more convenient for both billers and customers, as it allows for quicker delivery and payment of bills, and can reduce the amount of paper waste. Some companies and organizations offer e-billing as an option for customers to choose, while others have fully transitioned to electronic billing for all of their customers.