The public response to the newly opened MangaloreOne centres here has been mixed with the system yet to become popular.
Three MangaloreOne centres were launched in the city on June 9, offering three services: remittance of property tax, and payment of electricity and BSNL mobile phone bills.
When The Hindu visited the centre in the Mangalore City Corporation (MCC) building, many of those who came there only paid their property tax as directed by corporation officials. Neither T. Usha nor her husband, Narayan, had heard of the concept. Mamtha Bhaskar, a resident of Urwa, had also not heard of the centre, but when she was sent there by the MCC officials, she came out impressed. Some like Anwar ul-Haq, a resident of Pandeshwar, found the system better than a government office where people were made to wait.
After completing the formalities, he said “Paying tax here is much easier; it used to take a lot of time at the corporation office.”
Staff members at the MCC centre said that more than 2,000 people had paid their property tax at the centre since its inauguration. The number of electricity bills (more than 300) and BSNL mobile bills (around 20) cleared at the centre is far lower.
As far as Mescom bills are concerned, at present only bills from the Nehru Maidan and Kavoor subdivisions are accepted there. The Attavar and Suratkal subdivisions are yet to be integrated into the new system.
An official of the e-Governance Department, who did not want to be named, told The Hindu that in the next 10 days, people of Attavar and Suratkal subdivisions would be able to pay their bills at the centre.
To a question, he said Mescom was using only one software of the three it had received.
The software from the other two vendors would soon be integrated with the system for processing transactions, he said.
‘No cards please'
Contrary to what was promised, MangaloreOne centres at present accept only cash, cheques and Demand Drafts. Abhay Pai, who oversees the management of all three centres, said, “At present, we don't have the resources to accept credit cards and debit cards. Officials in Bangalore will let us know when it can be implemented here.”
The official said that Vodafone and Airtel customers would be able to pay their bills at the MangaloreOne centres within a few days. By August, booking of railway tickets, payment of water bills and BSNL landline bills would be introduced.
