Those remitting property tax to Chennai Corporation may soon to be able to make such payments at computerised post offices in the city.
The proposal has gained momentum after the civic body received a written communication last week from Department of Posts seeking concurrence for the project. Over 90 computerised post offices located in the Chennai Corporation limits are likely to be included in the list of centres.
The project, if implemented, may be an answer to problems faced by people paying property bills of low value. It would benefit a large numbers of assessees who do not have a bank account or cheque book. A chunk of the 5,29,411 residential property tax assessees in the ten zones of the city have a property tax demand of low value. Some zones such as Tondiarpet have a large number of such assessees. In Tondiarpet zone alone, there are around 17,000 such assessees, officials of the civic body said.
Other initiatives introduced by the Corporation in such zones include the anytime payment machine (ATPM). Payment of property tax for over 1,12,300 commercial properties in the city may also be covered in the proposed system. The facility is likely to give the assessee the option of paying the full amount of property tax, including arrears or remitting a part of the total amount of property tax demand.
Information including the division number, bill number, name of the assessee and property tax demand, including tax arrears, could be viewed at the designated post offices.
Revenue sharing model
The project is expected to take off once the Chennai Corporation and the Department of Posts arrive at an agreement on the revenue sharing model.
