More services under one roof

More services under one roof

BBMP has added six more online one-stop service centres where residents can pay their property tax, obtain birth and death certificates, and submit applications for registration of khathas, Sunitha Rao R reports

Sunitha Rao R



THE Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) has added six more Citizens' Service Centres (CSC) to provide a one-stop online facility for people to avail its various services. They will enable citizens to pay their property tax, obtain birth and death certificates, submit applications for registration of khathas and sanction of building plans.
Initially, there were only four such centres. They were in the Palike's head office and zonal offices at the public utility building on MG Road (east zone), 2nd Block Jayanagar (south zone) and Sampige Road, Malleswaram (west zone). Now there are six more citizen service centres working for the benefit of public.
The new centres are located at ward offices of Koramangala and Indiranagar in east zone, Sanjayanagar and Industrial Town in west zone and Madiwala and RPC Layout in south zone.
These centres function on all working days from 10am to 6.30pm.
The centres are aimed to provide services related birth and death certificates, khatha registration, and collection of property taxes, a senior BBMP official said.
They will give certificates to citizens belonging to any ward or jurisdiction in the BBMP.
Hence the public can access these services without having to go to various offices of the BBMP to meet different authorities, he said.
"My cousin passed away in 1999 and we required his death certificate to procure the property that belonged to him. But his death certificate was not put in the software in the Koramangala office where we had initially taken the certificate.
"So I was asked to visit the Mayo Hall office and find the records. Finally, after making several trips, I am now submitting a fresh application," said Harini S, an applicant.
According to her, it is not easy to fill in the application forms. Many citizens take the help of brokers who are available near such centres.
"If we do not find the particular registration number in the software, we send the applicants back to the office concerned and only after the required information is received from the range offices, we issue the certificate," a senior revenue official in a centre said.
Those who come here for the payment of property tax must carry with them a tax receipt or khata certificate or any such document issued by the BBMP in respect of their property to enable easy tracking of the property on the computer for faster transactions, said a senior revenue official working in the Jayanagar centre.
According to VR Padmakumari, assistant revenue officer working at the centre in Mayo Hall, there have been instances of faulty cheques landing at their counters. "When we get bounced cheques, we try to trace the property owner with the help of revenue officials at the respective range offices," she said.
In May and June, when school admissions open, these centres will be flooded with more than 600 applicants every day seeking birth certificates for their children. "During emergencies such as when some applicants cannot come to the centre to collect the application, we send them the certificates through courier.
"But to avail this service, the applicants must give us a written request mentioning the mailing address and pay the courier charges," Padmakumari said.