It's a pain, paying property tax through BangaloreOne

It's a pain, paying property tax through BangaloreOne

Supritha Sanjay. Bangalore

The BangaloreOne centres are advertised as being the 'One Stop Non Stop Service' centres. The 55 BangaloreOne centres across the city are accepting property tax payments for 2010- 2011, due to the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP), till the end of the month; they also offer tax payers a 5% discount.
Forms for paying property tax can be purchased for Rs5 at the centers, or downloaded from the Internet. According to the BangaloreOne website, all you need is a receipt of property tax paid the last time. Does this make it sound like paying property tax is a breeze? Not quite, say those who have been queuing up.
At the BangaloreOne centre at Koramangala, even ward numbers have been confusing. "They have replaced the old ward numbers with new ones. There are now 198 wards in Bangalore, but our system shows 904 ward numbers! That makes things confusing," says Rekha G, central manager of the Koramangala branch.
The e-governance department has made announcements to the effect that those paying the tax at BangaloreOne centers ought to have receipts for the previous year. "I have paid my taxes for the last two years, and I have receipts to prove that. However, the BBMP records have not been updated, and my payment of the tax has not been recorded. So no one here seems to be able to help me," says Lt Col GR Prasad, who hoped to pay the tax at the Shantinagar BangaloreOne centre.
There are many like Lt Col Prasad who say that the manual receipts they have received earlier from BBMP serve no purpose, as the BBMP records have not been updated. "It is not clear which my Property Identification Number (PID) is. That number is necessary, as it is used to identify the property," says Lt Col Prasad. Narayana Swamy, manager of the Indiranagar office says, "The BBMP has given manual receipts. These have not been updated on the software, and so we are unable to take the application forms."
Not everyone is complaining, though. Anita Narayan, an officer in the high court said, "I have not faced problems paying my property tax. I downloaded the application from the Internet. However, the only thing I would like different is that the process at the BangaloreOne centre should be faster."