Lahore: The Punjab Irrigation Department and the Punjab Information Technology Board (PITB) on Tuesday finalised an agreement to introduce an ‘e-Abiana’ system for collecting water charges from farmers in the province, a news source reported.
Under the initiative, the provincial executive will set up an automated system for the collection of water charges and fines from the local agricultural communities.
PITB Chairman Azfar Manzoor and Irrigation Secretary Saif Anjum signed the agreement on behalf of their organisations. Punjab IT & Higher Education Minister Raja Yasir Hamayun, Irrigation Minister Mohsin Khan Leghari, and PITB IT Operations Director General (DG) Faisal Yousaf were also present at the occasion.
Commenting on the project, IT Minister Hamayun said that that the Punjab government would digitalise its water revenue collection system in the form of Abiana – to be collected through the irrigation department’s e-Pay Punjab service. He added that this measure would ensure transparency in revenue collection practices.
On his part, Irrigation Minister Leghari said that the Abiana collections per annum amounted to PKR 4 billion in Punjab; adding that the provincial government wanted to incorporate technology in order to create a transparent revenue collection mechanism.
