BENGALURU: With just five days left for the public to avail the 5 per cent rebate offered by the BBMP on payment of property tax, some of those frequenting banks to remit the same complained of the hassles encountered in the process. Though conceding some people could have faced problems, the Corporation is delighted over the record revenues that have been collected this time, particularly the remittances online.
The BangaloreOne offices, the banks or the BBMP issues a property tax challan and one needs to pay it at one of four banks (HDFC, ICICI, Axis or Canara bank) or online on its portal. The challans can be obtained online too.
Narrating the hassle he underwent to pay his property tax on Tuesday, owner Silambarasan, a resident of Vijayanagar, said he intially went to the HDFC bank at Vijayanagar to pay the property tax for seven houses. “The queue was very long and the staff said it would take some time. Later, I went to Canara Bank and was told that I would be permitted payment only for two houses. So, I had to pay that and get back and plan to go again,” he said.
Rahul Srinivas, who recently visited a bank to pay the tax quoted a bank official as telling him that the BBMP was not prompt in giving them the commission due and so his bank was not interested in facilitating the collection.
When this reporter checked out the HDFC Bank at Nandidurga Road on Wednesday, an official there said that cash payment could not be made on the day. “The staffer who has the id details to collect the payment is on leave today and so no property tax in payment can be collected today. You can come tomorrow,” she said.
Unlike in the past when the rebate period is generally extended, it cannot be done this time since the model code of conduct is in place, a top official added.
M Venkatachalapathy, Joint Commissioner (Revenue), BBMP told TNIE that there were only a few sporadic incidents. But on the whole, the process is very smooth. He said that banks had signed an MoU with BBMP taking responsibility to collect property tax on behalf of it and they had to honour it. “I received a complaint about one of the banks restricting the number of tax payments an individual could do. I called the Deputy General Manager immediately and cautioned them against misleading the public,” he added.
‘Collection broke all previous records’
BBMP Special Commissioner (Finance) Manoj Rajan told TNIE that the property tax collection figures this year was excellent and broke all previous records. “We have so far received K534.24 crore inclusive of K337.82 crore paid at banks and K196.42 crore collected online. Another K82.61 crore received through cheques will be cleared in a couple of days. So, overall we have already collected almost K616 crores, the highest so far.”