Arunachal Pradesh deputy chief minister Chowna Mein on Wednesday launched the online payment service for post-paid electricity bills introduced by the state power department.

Mein launched the service by paying the electricity bill of his residence at Namsai.

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Expressing happiness over the initiative, Mein said with the launch of this system, consumers now can pay their bills from the comfort of their homes.

The consumers can pay their power bills by logging into the department’s portal www.arpdop.gov.in or by Bharat Bill Pay Ecosystem through payment apps such as PayTM, PhonePe, BHIM, PayZapp, MobiKwik, etc., and net-banking of various banks.

“It is a boon for the general people of the state during the COVID-19 pandemic as they need not stand in queues or travel to the Electrical Department offices to pay their post-paid electricity bills,” he said.

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Mein lauded the officers and officials of Power, Planning & Investment departments and all those involved in the timely activation of the online bill payment system despite the lockdown.

From Wednesday onwards, consumers from six R-APDRP (Restructure-Accelerated Power Development Reform Programme) towns – Itanagar, Naharlagun, Pasighat, Roing, Tezu and Namsai – can pay their bills online.

The online facility will soon be activated in Ziro, Daporijo and Aalo, the remaining three R-APDRP towns while 16 more towns under IPDS (Integrated Power development Scheme) shall be included in the online payment system after the implementation of phase-II of the IPDS, Mein said.

The power department will also be launching the prepaid online payment service for Itanagar and Naharlagun within a few days, the activation work of which is in the final stage, he added.

For the convenience of the general public, the power department is also initiating a Customer Care Centre, a first-of-its-kind in the state enabling the consumers to lodge their power supply-related complaints or for any inquiry related to electricity bills over the phone by dialling the pan-India electricity complaints helpline No 1912.

This will be effective for 12 hours initially on Wednesday and made functional 24×7 soon.

The helpline is expected to benefit consumers living in far-flung areas of the township.

Mein thanked Tata Consultancy Services (IT Implementing Agency of R-APDRP), National Payment Corporation of India (Implementing Agency of Bharat Bill Payment System), PayU (Implementing Agency of Online Payment) and Secure Meters (Prepaid Implementing Agency) for their assistance, support and cooperation.

Planning & investment commissioner PS Lokhande, planning & investment secretary Himanshu Gupta, all the chief engineers, superintending engineers and executive engineers of the power department attended the soft-launching via video conferencing.