For the past several days, property tax assessees in Coimbatore Corporation limits have been having a tough time paying tax at zonal offices and collection centres.
The personnel manning the collection centres are simply asking the assessees to come another day as computer/network malfunctioned. This has been happening in West and Central zones, say sources.
A Vadavalli resident says that his efforts to pay tax for the past 15 days have failed as he has been asked to come over several times. In Saibaba Colony, resident S. Sheela of Alagannan Street has been trying hard to pay tax but could not.
The fate of residents in Vadavalli, Veerakeralam, Kavundampalayam and other parts of the city is no different. Ward 11 Councillor R. Ravindraraj says that in the past six months or so he has often fought with the collection centre staff and also ward and zone officials to set right things, but nothing has improved.
Sources familiar with the issue say that not only tax collection, but in getting birth and death certificates, too, the residents are facing problem. At the centres/ward and zonal offices the Corporation has tied up with a network service provider for wireless service through dongles.
The service has been pretty bad and connectivity poor. On top of it, the service provider has said that it was upgrading network and that is adding to the woes, they say.
At the main office in Town Hall, though, the Corporation has engaged another telecom service provider. If the network at centres is good, there will be problems at the main office server. These compatibility issues have impacted tax collection and delivery of other services like birth and death certificates, they add.
Officials familiar with the issue say that are unable to bear the brunt of angry outbursts from the public as the service has been affected for long.
Mr. Ravindraraj says that the connectivity at centres/wards are available only for about 10 days a month for the past six months or so.
A senior official says that the upgrade of server and website could be the reason for the issue in the past. But things are getting sorted out and that he’ll look into it.
