With the deadline (April 30, 2011) fast approaching for property tax payments, city dwellers are seen running to and fro the Palike and BangaloreOne help centres, with cheques in their hands.
With the deadline (April 30, 2011) fast approaching for property tax payments, city dwellers are seen running to and fro the Palike and BangaloreOne help centres, with cheques in their hands.
Unfortunately, several cheques were rejected by the help centre staff, much to the dismay of property owners.
The reason being strict orders from the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) to these help centres to not accept any cheques from banks run by co-operative societies. This is because the charge handling fee or the service fee on these cheques has to be borne by the BBMP. This move has posed a lot of inconvenience to the masses, as there were no public announcements regarding the refusal of cheques from cooperative banks. People get to know only when the reach the counter to make their payments.
“I had to make three visits to the help centre, as the staff themselves was not aware of the rules. It’s such a waste of time,’ said Raghavendra KR, a resident of Malleswaram.
Raghupati MN, a resident of Koramangala, said the Palike should announce such updates at least on its website. “With only a few days left to tax payments with rebate, the civic body should not keep us in dark,” he said.
The civic body has even failed to put up a notice in this regard at these help centres.
“I had taken a planned leave from my office to pay the property tax. But when I gave the cheque at the counter, the staff rejected it, stating they accept cheques only from nationalised banks. I later had to pay the tax amount from my nationalised bank account. The BBMP has not bothered to even put a notice board stating they will accept cheques only from nationalised banks. The public are made to undergo such hardships,” said Suresh.
“I spent more than 30 minutes in the queue. When I finally handed over the cheque at the counter, the staff said they won’t accept it. The BBMP should have some sense of responsibility in keeping the public updated,” said Ramakrishna K, a senior citizen from Vijayanagar.
The BBMP revenue deputy commissioner, I Ramakanth, said, “The BBMP will only receive cheques from nationalised and private banks. This is because the service charge or clearance charge has to be borne by the BBMP. Due to this, the auditors had also objected to cheques from co-operative banks.”
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