Come Jan 1, pay more for services at Chandigarh’s e-Sampark centres

The Chandigarh administration was only levying the application fee, but has now decided to also impose facilitation charges at the e-Sampark centres

Services at city’s 45 e-Sampark centres will entail an additional fee, ranging from ₹20 to ₹25, from January 1.

The e-Sampark centres were established in Chandigarh around 10 years back to make public services more accessible for residents. (HT File Photo)

So far, the administration was only levying the application fee, but has now decided to also impose facilitation charges, which were waived earlier with the help of grant in aid from the department of information technology (IT), UT.

“The facilitation charges will be effective from January 1. Earlier, the department of IT was footing the charges, but now citizens will have to pay them with their application. The final approval from the administrative department will be coming in a day or two,” said Rupesh Kumar, director, IT, Chandigarh.

Payments at the e-Sampark centres can be made through debit and credit cards, demand draft, cheques and online through http://sampark.chd.nic.in.

The charges have been imposed on all services, including Scheduled Caste, Backward Class, birth and death certificates; payment of electricity, water and sewerage bills; tenant verification; booking of tubewells; VAT/CST returns; UDID applications; and sale and receipt of Chandigarh Housing Board forms.

Meanwhile, the Federation of Sector Welfare Associations Chandigarh (FOSWAC) termed the move unjustified. Body’s president Baljinder Singh Bittu said Chandigarh residents were already paying so many taxes: “We will oppose the additional charge and even hold protests.”

The centres were established in the city around 10 years back to make public services more accessible for residents.