Chairman of Sindh Irrigation and Drainage Authority (SIDA) Engineer Abdul Basit Soomro emphasized the need to digitize aabyana (water bills) to improve revenue collection. Basit said e-billing is an important step towards streamlining the collection of aabyana from farmers. Unless aabyana is digitized, no improvement will be possible in the revenue collection, he added.

The SIDA chairman appreciated the efforts of the Area Water Boards (AWBs) for designing an e-billing software in three months. He said collecting the consumers’ database was a challenge for the authority. He expressed hope that the Sindh Revenue Department would extend cooperation in that regard by providing the details of the agricultural land owners.

Soomro said although the authority wanted to enhance revenue collection through the water bills, the funds required to run the authority were still insufficient and could only be met with the government funding.

General Manager Transition of SIDA Ghulam Mustafa Ujjar said the authority's officers were in contact with their counterparts in the Sindh Irrigation Department and the information technology experts in the Punjab IT Department to seek their support for digitization.

General Manager of Nara Canal AWB Muhammad Owais Mahar said a software which would generate the e-bills had been made. But, he said, the authority needed the data of the consumers and revenue record to upgrade the software. He said as soon as the authority received the required information, the e-billing would start.

Credit : Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk