COIMBATORE: The Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) has intensified tax collection efforts but it is yet to facilitate digital payments at over two dozen dedicated centres. Any tax payer, including defaulters, who intend to pay at the tax collection centres in the industrial city cannot opt for online payment options including Unified Payments Interface as well as debit or credit cards.
Out of the total 29 tax collection centres, the Corporation has one each in the five zonal offices and 22 tax collection centres in the 100 wards falling in the five zones.
Despite being the highest revenue-generating corporation in Tamil Nadu after the Greater Chennai Corporation (GCC), CCMC is yet to adopt the latest technologies and proper infrastructure for seamless tax collection.
Any taxpayer can pay their taxes on the ‘tnurbanepay.tn.gov.in’ website through various modes of payment, but the civic body should have introduced online payment facilities for the convenience of the public.
Interestingly, the CCMC had announced a move in this direction in its latest budget. “The budget mentioned that appropriate technology for Mobile Phone QR Code Scanning, Google Pay and other applications will be adopted for the convenience of taxpayers. The CCMC had also allotted a sum of Rs 25 lakh in the budget for introducing UPI and QR code-based payment modes to pay taxes at the tax collection centres,” sources said.
The civic budget had also announced the upgradation of tax collection centres at Varadharajapuram Corporation Marriage Hall, Veerakeralam, Selvapuram, Peelamedu Pioneer Mills Road, Rathinapuri at a cost of Rs 40 lakh each aggregating Rs 2 crore.
However, neither of the announcements made during the latest budget session was implemented by the CCMC. Of the 29 tax collection centres in the city, Mettupalayam Road, Varadharajapuram Reservoir, Sungam, Tatabad and Ganapathy tax collection centres were upgraded during the last financial year, added the sources.
Speaking to TNIE, CCMC Deputy Commissioner Dr S Selvasurabi said, “Currently, the Veerakeralam tax collection centre alone is getting upgraded and the works are in progress. Works for the remaining centres announced in the budget are yet to begin. The work got delayed a bit due to a fund allocation issue.”
Speaking on the QR code-based payment mode, Deputy Commissioner Dr Selvasurabi said “the payments are linked to a single software in Chennai. As there was a minor issue with the software, the plan couldn’t be executed.”