Chandigarh, June 30 – Taking another step towards ‘e-governance’, Haryana Chief Minister, Sh. Manohar Lal today launched ‘Paperless billing through SMS for Panchkula district which will enable the department to improve billing efficiency.

The system has been launched for water bill generation for Panchkula and will be scaled up across the state within a month. It was launched after the 54th Meeting of Water Supply and Sewerage Board held under the Chairmanship of the Chief Minister here today.

Besides this, the Chief Minister asked the officers concerned to conduct a survey of villages and identify areas where water pipes are to be laid and lanes are to be developed. Thus, the survey will help in drawing maps of the villages and prevent random development of lanes and laying of water pipes. While discussing the Grey Water Management, the Chief Minister asked them to formulate a policy of constituting a team to inspect the Grey Water Management for cleaning of ponds in the 620 villages (where Grey Water Management has been done) and issue an inspection certificate.

A comprehensive presentation was given by Additional Chief Secretary, Public Health Engineering Department, Sh. Devender Singh during the meeting. Haryana State Safai Karamchari Commission, Vice-Chairman, Sh. Krishan Kumar was also present in the meeting.

In the meeting, the Chief Minister was apprised that with the inauguration of this system about 33,000 consumers of Panchkula can pay their bills digitally.

While discussing the water tariff of Haryana Shahri Vikas Pradhikaran and Urban Local Bodies (ULB) Department the Chief Minister asked the officers to ensure uniform water tariffs.

Speaking on the Grey Water Management, the Chief Minister said that the remaining villages where Grey Water Management is to be conducted should be segregated on the basis of population.

The Chief Minister also accorded the approval of purchase of robotic machines for cleaning of manholes. Showing his concerns to avoid manual scavenging the Chief Minister said that like Sirsa and Bhiwani, which have started using robotic machine for cleaning manholes, it should be implemented in other districts as well. Besides this, pilot project like ‘Sewage Water Danger Mark Alert System’ should be taken up in other districts as well. The Chief Minister said that for the households which are not being covered under present policy of providing water supply to Dhanis (in areas with population less than 100 persons), should also be considered for providing water supply.

Additional Chief Secretary, Power Department, Sh. P.K. Das, Additional Chief Secretary, Science and Technology Department, Sh. Amit Jha, Additional Chief Secretary, Finance and Planning Departments, Sh. T.V.S.N. Prasad, Deputy Principal Secretary to Chief Minister, Smt. Ashima Brar, Additional Chief Secretary, Agriculture & Farmers Welfare Department, Dr. Sumita Misra and Director, Urban Local Bodies Department. Sh. Ashok Kumar Meena were present in the meeting.