CSMC vows to transform into citizens-centric organisation

Lokmat News Network

Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:

Here is good news for the property-holders as the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) is striving to introduce maximum services online for the convenience of the citizens. Initially, the civic administration 16 services of various sections including payment of property tax as well as water tax online.

The CSMC will continue to introduce more and more services for the citizens in the coming days, said the municipal commissioner. The efforts are yielding results as the cash in the CSMC exchequer swelled up by Rs 59 crore in the form of property and water tax online in the last three months.

Demarcation of Guts in each ward

Under the guidance of the civic chief, the assessor and collector of tax Aparna Thete prepared a micro plan to recover the taxes. The city is divided into nine zones and each zone comprises 14-15 election wards. Hence she demarcated a group of 3,000 properties each and deputed one recovery officer to visit door to door and recover the taxes. These recovery officers will have to update the administration about the collection made in their jurisdiction on a daily basis (in a prescribed format) online. The details will be displayed on the dashboard. Each zone will have a separate dashboard to review and analyse the performance of the recovery officer. This group has been formed for administrative purposes and no change will be made in them, warned the civic chief.

The CSMC has set a target of collecting Rs 480 crore tax including Rs 350 crore as property tax and Rs 130 crore as water tax. The response to the facility of paying online tax is growing in the city. Till July 13, the municipal corporation recorded a collection of Rs 50.88 crore as property tax and Rs 7.51 crore as water tax. The total collection recorded was Rs 58.39 crore.

Digital address

The process of fixing the digital address on each property will be undertaken soon. The CSMC will be signing an agreement with a private bank to implement the project soon.

One single app

The municipal corporation will be developing one single app to provide vehicle services through solid waste management, health and fire brigade sections. The app will help the citizens to avail the services promptly.