D.S. Sridhar, a resident of Jakkur, who tried paying his property tax on Sunday was surprised to find that the tax calculator in the software still works on the old formula; his dues jumped by around 90 per cent from the previous year.
Thus confusion and chaos continues. It may take a few more days for the software to be updated and enable citizens to pay property tax without any hitch.
Senior BBMP officials met National Informatics Centre officials twice to discuss the problems; the latest meeting was on Monday evening.
BBMP Commissioner N. Manjunath Prasad told The Hindu that the updated software will first be tested for at least a day before it is opened to the public. The rebate for servicemen and other issues which were left out earlier would be included in the updated software.
If any problems are flagged during the testing period, it may take some time to fix the bugs. But if no such problems crop up, the updated software would be available to the public in three days, sources said.
Amidst severe opposition from residents, BJP and even its alliance partner JDS, the Congress-led BBMP administration climbed down and went in for a partial roll back of the quantum of hike. On April 29, the hike in property tax was restricted to 20 per cent for residential properties and 25 per cent for commercial properties. For those who have paid their property tax already, the difference would be off set in their dues for next year, the BBMP had claimed.
Timeline
April 1, 2016: New rates for property tax came into force. The hike in many cases amounted to between 70 and 150 per cent. Five per cent rebate if paid by April 30.
April 4, 2016: Citizens have a harrowing experience while trying to make payment online
April 29, 2016: BBMP council partially rolls back the hike. Five per cent rebate extended up to May 31
