More than a month after it was launched by the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD), the online payment gateway system for property tax has elicited limited response from the public.
Though the implementation of this online system is running behind schedule, Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli believes that the use of this facility will pick up once the property owners receive their IDs with the property tax bills. Meanwhile, the secretary, Urban Development has directed the Mukhya Nagar Adhikari to ensure that the property tax collection is undertaken within the purview of the Nagar Nigam Act which means that the self-assessment system will be used for property tax collection. This is expected to further delay the process of making the online gateway an efficient system for paying property tax.
The MNA Harak Singh Rawat had directed municipal officials to work towards facilitating collection of property tax on rental value basis as approved by the MCD Board. However, the Urban Development secretary has instructed the MNA to act within the purview of the Act and sought relevant papers on the issue.
Earlier, the MCD had planned to collect property tax on self assessment basis but then the State government had issued an order directing the corporation to collect property tax on rental value basis. Now the State administration has asked the corporation to collect property tax on self assessment basis.
The MCD is preparing to facilitate this while waiting for a letter from the authorities. Meanwhile, the online payment gateway system for property tax opened with the help of IDBI bank on the corporation's official website is now expected to take longer to become popular with property owners in Dehradun.
The Dehradun Mayor Vinod Chamoli said that the facility has so far elicited limited response from the public. He expressed hope that usage of this facility would rise once the property owners receive their IDs along with the property tax bill in the coming months. There are about 1.20 lakh homes in Dehradun of which property tax is collected on about 57,000 properties.
The online gateway for property tax was started last month and was slated to be run on experimental basis for a week after which it was to be operated full time with the aim of covering all buildings in Dehradun.