Pune: Operations at the property tax department of PMC have been disrupted after approximately 200 employees were deployed for the special voter list revision (SIR) drive.The mass deployment has left the department functioning with a skeleton staff. Currently, only three senior officials—the deputy commissioner of tax assessment and tax collection and two assistant commissioners—along with a handful of staff members, are managing the department’s daily operations.“The current situation is a temporary matter arising from our commitment to national duty,” said Ravi Pawar, head of the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) property tax department. “Pending cases will be resolved on priority as soon as the voter list revision is completed. We urge citizens to cooperate during this period.”The department issued a public statement on Monday night seeking cooperation from tax payers. However, officials admitted that the staff shortage has caused significant delays in tax assessments, application processing, taxpayer grievance resolution, and general office administration. A formal proposal sent to the municipal commissioner and the district collector to exempt key staff from election duty was reportedly rejected.The disruption comes at a critical time. Civic data reveals that property tax contributes between 30% and 32% of the PMC’s total revenue. The department has set a revenue collection target of Rs3,800 crore for the 2026-27 financial year, of which Rs1,400 crore was collected in the first three months.Citizens and civic activists have criticised the administration for failing to create a backup system for such emergencies. They argue that property tax services are particularly vital now, given the recent merger of 32 new villages into the civic limits.“It is the duty of the civic administration to provide timely services. The SIR drive was announced months ago; the administration should have made arrangements accordingly,” said Vivek Velankar of Sajag Nagrik Manch, a citizens’ group. “Asking citizens to wait for essential legal work due to a man-power crunch is unjust.”
