Chennai
Sumathi Felix, a resident of Perungudi, had to wait in a queue for nearly two-and-a-half hours on September 30 to pay her property tax at the local panchayat office. A week before that she had to make trips to the main zonal office in Puzhuthivakkam to get her property tax registration number corrected and verified. Unfortunately she did not have a bank close by where she could make the payment.
From 1st January afternoon, lakhs of residents like Sumathi from newly extended zones, Alandur, Perungudi and Sholinganallur can make their property tax payments from home or from any internet enabled device.
Chennai Corporation officials have put all the details in their database and updated the website on December 31, activating the drop down option on the payment page to include zone numbers 11, 14 and 15.
“Data migration, which is computerising the list of residential and commercial spaces along with the money owed, took us around three months,” said a senior corporation official.
Extending online payment services to the other four extended areas-Thiruvottiyur, Manali, Madhavaram and Valsaravakkam – was completed nearly a month ago because their database was available in the electronic format and only had to be updated. The corporation four months ago promised to extend every e-service it offered, to the extended areas by the end of the year.
The updated database will also enable tax assessors to conduct door-to-door tax collections update the system and provide a receipts on the spot. However this facility may not be efficient in extended areas due to shortage of handheld devices.
Source: The Times of India, Chennai
