State municipal administration department has urged all municipalities and corporations other than the Greater Chennai Corporation(GCC) to ensure that their services are offered online for the public.
The director of municipal administration, P Ponniah, on August 13 issued a circular instructing local bodies to ensure delivery of online services in cases of filing self-assessment of property tax returns, levy and collection of property tax, application for name transfer of property tax and issue of name transfer orders.
The urban tree information system website should be used, the official directed, adding that this would be an improvement for the ease of doing business.
When implemented, online services will bring a relief to lakhs of residents who live in areas governed by smaller local bodies like Avadi corporation, Pallavaram municipality, Tambaram municipality, Sriperumbudur town panchayat and others.
These are localities which have sprung up within 20-30km from Chennai, but the facilities and services are not comparable to those available in the city.
V Pugalventhan, an activist who lives in Kundrathur on the fringes of the city, said that GCC offers services like property tax, water tax, birth and death certificates online. But other local bodies have failed to replicate this model.
“The websites are totally unprofessional and look like blogger sites,” he said.
Due to absence of online services, residents have to run from pillar-to-post for basic public sevices such as birth certificates or death certificates from local offices, he said.
“Currentlhy, this work does not get done without payment of bribes. If services are brought online, payment of bribes can be eliminated,” he said.
He cited a reply to an RTI application by Sriperumbudur town panchayat which denied receipt of any order or instruction to process online applications for new property tax assessment or water connection requests.
