Stepping up preventive measures against the coronavirus epidemic, the Dehradun Municipal Corporation (DMC) has put several safety arrangements in place as residents line up at its premises to pay their house tax.
The deadline for depositing house tax is March 31 and the DMC is expecting a rush of visitors at its premises at this time of the month.
Officials said that in order to ensure people submit their dues, while keeping coronavirus at bay, they have set up a stall inside the DMC premises that lets visitors as well as corporation staff use face masks and hand sanitisers free of cost. In fact, the use of both has been made mandatory before entering office premises.
Talking to TOI, municipal commissioner Vinay Shankar Pandey said, “We are taking every possible measure to keep ourselves and others safe from the infection. While maintaining personal hygiene is one form of protection, crowds also need to be avoided. People will be standing in a queue to deposit their house tax and it is mandatory to protect everyone from the threat (of coronavirus).”
Vijay Dhyani, a resident of EC Road, who came to deposit house tax at the DMC office on Monday, said, “The facility of masks at a public office is certainly a welcome move. This will help us to keep ourselves safe.”
Meanwhile, the DMC has also briefed its sanitation workers about the situation and advised them to take extra precaution while coming in contact with people.
“We have printed over a lakh handouts for awareness about Covid-19. These have been given to sanitation workers, who have been asked to leave them with residents of households they collect garbage from,” added Pandey.
This financial year, the DMC has a target of collecting Rs 50 crore house tax from residential and commercial premises.