The Times of India           23.12.2013

Pay civic taxes on Sunday till Dec 31

INDORE: Sanjay Mehra, an employee with a nationalized bank, has not been able to pay his civic tax until now mainly because of his working hours and six-day week working schedule. In its bid to help Mehra and many people like him, who want to pay their civic tax but could not do so, Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) has decided to keep its office open on Sunday till December 31.

With this many people who do not get time on weekdays can pay their civic taxes on Sundays and avoid paying surcharge.

IMC official said December 31 is last day of the year for people to pay their civic tax from January 1, people will have to pay civic tax with surcharge of 15% on outstanding. "Many people are honest and want to pay tax but could not do so because of time constraint, so we have decided to keep our office open on Sundays to help such taxpayers," civic official said, adding we hope to increase revenue collection with this move and reduce number of defaulters.

For convenience of taxpayers, the corporation has decided to keep cash counters open on the next Sunday. It includes the cash counters at corporation's head office and all the zonal offices. A large numbers of people paid their taxes on Sunday.

IMC revenue in charge Chandu Shinde said the corporation had already started online payment of tax and many people are taking its benefit. Still, there are many more people who do not have access to internet or they are not very tech-savvy. "For many people, Sunday is only free day and by providing a system of tax payment on weekend, the civic body is facilitating them to pay their taxes," he said.