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.”