Bengaluru: Upset citizens have been protesting over the technical glitches in the BBMP official website, which have been impeding the public from smooth payment of property tax. In response to the outcry, the BBMP on Thursday clarified that all the technical issues will be fixed within a week.
BBMP Deputy Commissioner (Revenue) M. Venkatachalapathy said that meetings were held with National Informatics Centre (NIC) which has prepared the software and is assisting the BBMP in ironing out the problems.
Asked why the BBMP was in a hurry to introduce online payment when they were not ready for it, he said that the BBMP wanted to minimize the harassment to the public by the revenue officials and to reduce the interaction between public and revenue officials. Since it’s a new software, he said, certain teething problems have surfaced which are being fixed.
“The new software had to be introduced, bowing to pressure from the higher ups,” he said and admitted that the software should have ideally been tested and implemented at least at least two months ahead.
However, about 75 per cent of the glitches have been fixed. On the positive side, about 3,800 applicants have paid the tax online and the BBMP has earned Rs 1.7 crore in two days, he informed.
On the ineptitude of Canara Bank officials, he said that if there was a need, more nationalized banks like Axis, HDFC and IDBI will be roped in. “Citizens will get the receipt on the spot if the payment of tax is made through cash and demand draft. However, they have to wait for a day or two if the payment is made through cheque, until it is realized,” he said.
Defending the revision of property tax, he said that the tax has not been revised since 2008 for various reasons. As per the KMC Act, the BBMP is bound to revise the tax for every block period of three years.
The BBMP is calculating the tax based on the 2014 guidance value and not as per 2016. Major issues like tax calculator, zone issues and other PID issues have been fixed.
