PATNA: It was a good start for the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC), which has put up a remarkable performance on the revenue generation front by collecting a whopping Rs 11.76 crore as property tax and garbage collection fee in April in the current financial year 2024-25.
The tax collected in the fourth month of the year was Rs 5.51 crore more and 88.16 per cent higher than the tax collected during the corresponding period of the last fiscal. The civic body had collected revenue of Rs 6.25 crore in April 2023. There are around 2.5 lakh holdings in the municipal area. In the last fiscal, the PMC had collected Rs 155 crore, but this time it has set the target to reach Rs 200 crore.
The PMC officials said that the initiative of the civic body to give 5% rebate for ‘prompt’ property taxpayers has revved up property tax collection. “The civic body has received revenue of Rs 11.76 crore from property tax and garbage fee in April alone this year. The amount was received from a total of 44,417 government and non-government institutions, as compared to 19,778 last year in April,” they said.
The PMC has given a rebate of 5% on paying property tax payment till June, after which the taxes will be charged without any discount.
Municipal commissioner Animesh Kumar Parashar said the number of taxpayers who use online platforms to pay property taxes have also picked up as compared to previous year in April. “Common people are now paying property tax from the comfort of their homes, taking advantage of various facilities being provided by the corporation, including printed QR (quick response) codes and city of Patna online portal,” he said.
The commissioner said, “In April last year, 38 per cent people had paid property tax online, whereas this year during the same period, it has shot up to 58 per cent. Revenue receipt of Rs 5.54 crore was received online by 25,632 tax payers, whereas 18,785 people paid tax at the counters in all six circle offices, including Azimabad, Bakerganj, Kankarbagh, New Capital, Patliputra and Patna City. Last year, only Rs 1.91 crore was received through online payments.”
For the first time, the PMC has sent demand notices to the tax payers with QR (quick response) codes in all 75 wards. The civic body employees will take a door-to-door visit and ask the people to pay property tax. The demand has been prepared according to the tax of each holding. By scanning the QR code, the common man will get information about his outstanding amount.
People can make payment online through any application (Phone Pay, Google Pay and Paytm). Along with this, the website of Patna Municipal Corporation and tax counter facility, functional from 9 am to 7 pm, are provided. The counters will remain open even on Sundays and public holidays till June-end.
