|
|
Sevak a Hit With Senior Citizens
By Manjiri Damle, The Times of India
Pune, India
June 11, 2004
Pune, India: The hardships of standing in long queues to pay electricity bills and the pressure to meet the payment deadline is likely to ease considerably with the introduction of Sevak , the self-service payment terminal, by the Maharashtra State Electricity Board (MSEB).
While the MSEB has installed the first Sevak at its Rasta Peth office, plans are afoot to install similar machines at all MSEB billing centres in the city, to enable consumers to pay their bills as per their convenience.
Arvind Nerkar, deputy chief public relations officer, told TNN that the new system has become a huge hit, especially with senior citizens who find standing in queues very difficult.
"During the first three days, a majority of the customers who used Sevak were senior citizens and housewives. As many as 300 consumers used the machine in the first three days," he said, adding that the MSEB planned to install such machines at all billing centres in a phased manner. Incidentally, Pune is the first city in the state to try out the machine.
Nerkar said the machine has been installed in association with Tata Infotech and Gayatri Infotech, who have deputed two officials to guide consumers.
Elaborating on how the machine works, Anant Potdar, marketing officer, Gayatri Infotech, said the bills can be paid in cash or by cheque.
"The touch-screen facility makes Sevak user-friendly, especially for senior citizens," he added. All one has to do is put the barcode on the MSEB bill under the barcode reader, select the cash or cheque option and pay the bill. The machine gives a receipt for the payment immediately.
"Sevak has the ability to identify and reject fake currency notes," Potdar said, adding,
"The other day, when a bundle of 100 currency notes was inserted for payment, one note was rejected by the machine.
Closer inspection revealed that the note was fake." Similarly, the machine can read cheques and cross-check the amount mentioned on the bill. Sevak can also be used for making bill payments of other services, Potdar said.
|
|
