Bhubaneswar: In a bid to make municipal payments easier and more accessible for citizens, the housing and urban development department on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding with State Bank of India’s payment aggregator platform, SBIePay, to strengthen the digital payment ecosystem across Urban Local Bodies (ULBs) through the state’s SUJOG platform.Under the partnership, citizens will be able to pay municipal taxes, fees, utility charges and other civic service payments online through multiple digital channels on the SUJOG platform. The payment options will include debit and credit cards such as RuPay, Visa, MasterCard, Maestro and American Express, besides internet banking, mobile banking, IMPS, UPI, UPI-linked RuPay credit cards, UPI credit lines and digital wallets.Officials said the initiative is aimed at improving convenience for citizens by reducing visits to municipal offices for routine transactions while promoting transparency and efficiency in urban governance.A key feature of the partnership is the direct settlement of funds into the designated bank accounts of individual ULBs on a business-day basis, ensuring quicker access to collections. The system will also generate unique transaction IDs to support transparent accounting, reconciliation and tracking of payments.The SBIePay-enabled framework will include automated mechanisms for exception handling, refunds, chargebacks and MIS-based reconciliation. These processes will be supported by a turnaround time of seven calendar days, helping improve accountability and boosting public confidence in digital payment services.Speaking on the occasion, additional chief secretary of housing and urban development department, Usha Padhee, said the collaboration with SBI would further strengthen the SUJOG platform and enhance the efficiency, accessibility and convenience of citizen-centric services.Rakesh Yadav, chief general manager, SBI (Odisha circle), assured the department of SBI’s continued support in making the initiative successful and in strengthening Odisha’s digital payment infrastructure for urban services.Officials said the partnership marks another step in Odisha’s push towards digital urban governance, with the integration expected to make the payment of urban taxes, fees and utility bills faster, safer and more seamless for citizens across the state.