Launching their new websites for property tax collection, two of the city’s municipal corporations, south and north, on Tuesday said they won’t be accepting any cash or cheques anymore. The tax will now have to be paid only through online modes, including debit and credit cards. The deadline for submitting tax, June 30, has not yet been extended.
East Delhi Municipal Corporation, meanwhile, has decided to continue with the old system saying they haven’t been able to generate UPIC IDs of their taxpayers. The civic body’s spokesperson, Arun Kumar, said, “We want to feed the data in the new system and add more features before launching the portal. For the time being, residents can pay tax online and via cheques, but no cash will be accepted.”
According to the new system, property owners will have to register their mobile number and submit details like email address, date of birth, etc afresh. A one-time password will be required to log in. Property details registered in municipal records can then be accessed after entering the UPIC number or reference ID generated earlier.
While civic officials argued that the system was necessary for transparency and convenience, residents had mixed opinions. Senior citizens said the new system was implemented in a hurry. RWAs have written to the commissioners questioning the urgency of introducing the new system during the lockdown.
PK Paul of East Bengal Displaced Persons Association (EBDPA) said, “There are 400-500 senior citizens living in this area who pay their taxes via cheque or at camps. Most elderly don’t know how to use a smartphone of computer properly. It will be impractical to expect them to make online payments all of a sudden. Because of the fear of catching the Covid-19 infection, they can’t even take anyone’s help outside. We strongly oppose the launch of the new system.”
EBDPA members had reportedly written to the South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) commissioner on April 30 for putting off the launch till the end of the lockdown period. “Also, there’s no clarity on adjustment of excess commercial tax charged last year,” said Paul.
Pankaj Agarwal of Safdarjung RWA said people are habitual of paying tax at camps held by SDMC. “Moreover, the website is on a trial run. If the system is made mandatory without resolving grievances and queries of residents, tax collection will be impacted.”
However, a senior SDMC official said the new portal — mcdonline.nic.in — is user-friendly and aimed at catering to more people so they won’t need to step out during the lockdown.
SDMC joint assessor and collector Radha Krishan said, “The new portal has the facility of getting a UPIC number, if not allotted earlier. It will accept tax for previous years and also help in adding names of more taxpayers for the same property or details of additional construction done in the past.”
Krishan added that issues related to the website are being sorted out and camps have been planned from next Monday for the convenience of property owners. A north corporation official said they have launched helpline numbers, videos and standard operating procedures to educate senior citizens about the new system.
