Cuttack, Jan. 10: Swarup Dutta was unable to pay the electricity dues for his relative in "cashless mode" at the newly set up Jan Seva Kendra under e-municipality project in the city today.

Though dedicated utility kiosks started functioning at two places - Cuttack Municipal Corporation and Bikash Bhavan - since yesterday, it failed to help people as point-of-sale (PoS) machines have not yet been installed.

"After I found out about the centre, I went there to pay the electricity dues. Though I wanted to pay in cashless mode, I was unable to do so as no PoS facility was available," said Dutta. He said that as he had already withdrawn the upper limit Rs 4,500 from his account, it was difficult for to make the payment in cash. He will have to visit the counter again tomorrow to make the payment in cash.

Odisha E-Governance Services Limited has set up the counters under the state government's e-municipality project. These centres aim to assist people to get the civic services online and is being touted as a one-stop window to help those who have no internet at home or cannot use online methods of payment.

Under the state government's e-municipality services, people can go online to get death and birth certificates, book Odisha Road Transport Corporation bus tickets, obtain trade licences, pay holding tax and so on.

"I had come to apply for the death certificate of my mother, who died at a private hospital in Cuttack on December 26. After standing in queue for almost 30 minutes, I got a form at the old counter as the municipal employees did not inform me about the dedicated counter," said Balasore resident Sisbasish Panda.

Panda said many of those who had visited the corporation office were not aware that they could also apply online through the utility counter.

An Odisha E-Governance Services Limited official Rashmi Mohanty told The Telegraph: "Now, all payments are being done in cash. We will install the PoS machines within two months to provide payments options through debit and credit cards," said Mohanty.