Currency notes that could be jocularly referred to as `middle-aged’ are the only ones that make it through the slits of the kiosks installed at the 24-hour bill payment centres of the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewage Board (BWSSB).
Altogether 74 such payment kiosks have been installed in the City (newly added BBMP areas do not have them). Five such kiosks come under the Basavangudi South IV sub-division. When this Metrolife reporter assessed their performance, the men manning these centres, BWSSB officials as well as the public were more than eager to vent their grievances.
Following the installation of these machines during 2003–2004 by Tata Consultancy Services, water bill payments are accepted only through them. Notes of the denomination of 5, 10, 20, 50, 100 and 500 are accepted and any balance due from the department is adjusted with the succeeding month’s water payment. There are men posted round-the-clock to help customers pay their water bills. Notes that are crumpled or cut or folded are not allowed.
A new 100-rupee note inserted by a woman into the slit of the BWSSB kiosk at Nagendra Block simply refused to stay put in. Despite seven attempts, the note kept popping out. She then had to insert a not-so-new Rs 100 note into the alloted slot and then clear her bill. Yoga teacher Jeetender, who lives nearby, comes here regularly to pay his bills. He said, “The problem of not accepting certain notes has happened to me a couple of times and I would go home again and bring other notes and try them out.”
The main office at Basavanagudi has two kiosks and both do not accept very old or very new notes. Gururaj, employed at State Bank of Mysore, says, “Being from the bank, I often have new notes in my hand. After reaching here, I remember these machines would not take them.
“So, I keep asking others who come to pay their bills to give older notes in exchange.”
Officials here say, “It is not just the machines under our division which experience the problems as colleagues from different divisions repeatedly state these problems. Engineers are called up to set right the issue but the problem has been an ongoing one since the installation.”
That is not the only problem as sometimes notes get trapped midway through the slot. “It is then that we try to extricate the note or use a vacuum cleaner or unlock the machine,” they said.
As the machine does not accept notes of smaller denomination, customers cannot pay the exact amount. An unpaid balance of upto nine rupees is accepted but if it crosses that amount, then interest is charged the subsequent month.
The doors of the room housing the BWSSB kiosk at Pipeline Road, BSK IInd Stage, Hanumant Nagar were found locked as the machine had malfunctioned since Saturday afternoon. “It is unable to scan the submitted bills and is expected to set right by tomorrow evening,” said a BWSSB staffer.
The kiosk at Chamrajpet behaves very peculiarly if we go by this response of staffer Gangadhar: “It accepts all old notes except old ten-rupee notes!”
Vasudevan, Chief Engineer, Quality Assurance section, BBMP says, “In order to prevent payment of counterfeit notes, the security system for accepting rupee notes is quite tight. We have been receiving complaints about notes not going in and are trying to ensure the machines function perfectly. Five to six engineers keep visiting the kiosks around the City to attend to their problems.”
On any given day, between three and four machines run out of order. “If we receive the complaint by forenoon, we set it right by the end of the day. But if it is after 3 p m, the machine would be set right by next day,” he adds.
