BBMP collects Rs 587 crore in property tax; glitches remain

BENGALURU: Although it's been more than five weeks since the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) started collecting property tax - both via online portals and offline payments - some of the technical glitches that have hampered the process are yet to be completely resolved. Property owners are eager to pay their tax before May 31, the extended deadline announced by the BBMP'for availing of a 5% concession in the tax amount. Frustrated citizens have taken to airing their grievances with the BBMP's process on online public forums.

Raghavendra Kumar (name changed), a resident of Mysuru who owns property in the city, said that the online payment portal had not made the process any easier. "I was very happy that I would be able to pay my tax sitting in Mysuru this year. Last year, I received the challan from the BBMP office, and paid the specified sum. But, every time I have tried to make an online payment in the past two weeks, I have received an error message stating, 'previous payment invalid'. When I paid the amount specified in the challan generated by the system last year, how is that possible?" he asked. After an unsuccessful attempt at registering a complaint with the BBMP's customer care cell, Raghavendra was asked to wait till the glitches were fixed. "The worst case scenario is that I will have to come to Bengaluru and pay the sum in person," he added.

Kumar's is not an isolated case. Errors in the system have resulted in payments being rejected. However, in the absence of a proper refund policy, many owners are still awaiting reimbursement. Nagarajan K, who owns a property on Sarjapur Road, said, "I was able to pay the tax in my second attempt when I used netbanking. But I have not been reimbursed after my first attempt through Payumoney, an e-wallet, failed."