Hyderabad: The gaps in functionality of the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation’s online payment gateway has been causing distress to the citizens of the state. Many who paid their property tax online via the gateway reported that although the money was debited from their respective bank accounts, they never received acknowledgement for the same.
Additionally, tax payers claimed that despite their numerous requests in this regard, the corporation had failed to act towards rectifying the issue. Many further criticised the civic body for the absence of a refund mechanism which could have otherwise enabled them to make said payments manually.
To add to the citizens’ woes, the corporation has been imposing a 2 per cent interest for late payments, which the citizens are not technically responsible for.
One Mr Niraj Srivastav, who paid his property tax online (PTIN 1141516160) in April in order to avail the early bird offer, claimed that although the amount had been deducted from his bank account, he received no acknowledgement for the same and the GHMC portal claimed that his payment was still due. Further, when he raised a grievance on the MYGHMC app, it was closed without due resolution.
Echoing his concern, Mr Praveen Illa said, “I’ve faced exactly this issue as well. I shared my concerns with the civic body in an email. However, I haven’t heard from them yet.”
This gap has further led a number of citizens to making two payments for the lack of acknowledgement of receipt. However, neither of the transactions in such cases ever reflected either
on the website or on the application.
Ms Anita Kalgapurkar claimed that her son had initiated an online payment worth `1,745 towards property tax (PTIN no. 1090311616) through the GHMC portal on April 28 at 8.35 am. Her SBI debit card ending with 5777 was used in the transaction (transaction ID 045658), and the payment was made via gateway no. 00001494.
Unfortunately, however, although the amount was debited from her account, no receipt was generated by the merchant and the transaction was declared to have failed. She then used another card to make the payment and again, while the amount was debited from her bank account, the GHMC never confirmed its receipt.
Surprisingly, GHMC officials claimed that the corporation did face payment gateway issues on April 30, but the issue was resolved almost immediately and that it had been functioning as required thereafter.
They further claimed that the amounts paid in excess would be adjusted in future transactions since the GHMC had no refund mechanism in place.
