Glitches in NMC’s property tax portal leave citizens frustrated
| Date :04-Jul-2022 |
By Sagar Mohod
Glitches in the property tax portal of Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) continue to give nightmares to the citizens. Especially for regular tax payers, the errors in the assessment have made them miss the early bird rebate offer which was valid till June 30. Though officials of civic body appealed to citizens to avail 10 per cent discount on prompt payment of year’s taxes in a one go, they failed to rectify the errors on the data leaving citizens in the lurch.
At tax collection counters in zones, the citizens were left dejected after being told that their tax assessment for the current financial year i.e. 2022-23 has not been finalised. This is quite surprising as the data is more or less already digitised and not much changes are required. This exposes that nothing is going right in the NMC and is quite frustrating for citizens who are prompt in payment of property tax.
From the start of new financial year, the NMC’s tax platform is giving trouble to citizens. The Hitavada had received many complaints as to the tax payment window was not responding or after keying all the details the transaction remained incomplete.
One expected officials of Revenue Department to a take note of the concerns expressed by the citizens, but computing errors continued even after end of the first quarter.
A common problem cropping up is about the assessment bill for the current financial year. The bill is low which is quite perplexing. NMC has more or less stopped physical distribution of tax demands, for citizens the immediate reference is using the digital platform. But given the errors
cropping up on petty large scale, the NMC officials need to revamp the site or update the data, feel citizens.
Even the clerks at the tax collection cash counters in zonal offices were foxed when the screen flashed figures that left them bewildered as in some cases, it was just few hundred rupees whereas normal tax for previous years was in thousands of rupees. When the citizens asked about the reason the clerk replied that current year’s tax is not yet computed and asked them to come back after a fortnight. In some cases, the tax payers were senior citizens and for them taking another trek to zonal office and again standing in the queue to pay the tax is nothing short of a punishment.
However, Milind Meshram, Deputy Commissioner, Revenue, NMC, was firm that the Property Tax Department has completed assessment of 6.22 lakh properties in city. When asked about the problem with figures of assessment, Meshram said, this could be due to extra payment made by the property owners and hence current tax was low. This was when he was shared an index number wherein the same problem, low annual tax assessment was being displayed. The tax displayed on the screen was actually the current due demand, he added.
However, before The Hitavada could ask Meshram further queries on other issues on tax front, he abruptly disconnected the phone call. When this reporter visited his office to get clarification on the computing errors in the property tax, he failed to get audience. The errors on tax assessment are a quite worrisome as property tax is now the major revenue head for the cash-strapped NMC.
Another issue that is troubling the citizens is that last year payments were not reflected in the tax portal. So, when the citizens download the current year’s tax demand, late fee was shown in the note. This despite the fact that one can get receipt of the payment made well before the due date during the last financial year. So, when the tax payer submits the demand note, he is sometimes paying double tax as the person sitting at the counter believes the figure show on the screen. There is no method on the tax portal for resolving these petty queries through on-line medium.
A tax payer has to visit the zonal offices where the officials of Tax Department are not co-operative.