Civic body staff say no to cheque, bills say otherwise

Harshraj Singh

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, January 25

Though ‘due date by cheque’ is duly mentioned on bills of water supply and sewerage charges issued to consumers, the civic body is not accepting cheques. The consumers visiting the MC offices to pay their bills by cheque are a harried lot.

Jaswant Singh (84) of the Dholewal area said he visited the Zone C office to pay his water supply and sewerage charges by cheque but the staff concerned refused to accept my cheque. “When I asked the staff as to why ‘due date by cheque – January 31, 2020’ has been mentioned on the bill issued to me, they failed to explain. They asked me to pay the bill in cash or by a debit card.”

“I returned home, got my debit card and paid the bill at the office. If cheques are not accepted, the MC must correct the information on the bills. There are many others who suffer due to negligence on the part of the civic body,” he said.

Zonal Commissioner Neeraj Jain said the matter had come to his notice. “Cheques are not accepted by the civic body. I also apologised to the senior citizen. We will take steps to rectify the error on the bills,” he said.

Sources in MC said the MC authorities had earlier given instructions not to accept cheques as several cases of cheque bounce were reported. “The MC should accept cheques, as payment by cheque is accepted in many other government offices in the country. If any cheque is dishonoured by a bank, then legal action should be taken against the person concerned,” said another consumer.