Patna: Long queues and frayed tempers marked the final day for availing the 5% rebate on property tax payments at the Patna Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) Citizen Civic Centre on Tuesday, as hundreds of residents waited for hours to clear their dues amid a sluggish server that remained largely non-functional since around noon. There was overcrowding at the centre as the taxpayers alleged delays in both online and offline payment processing.Several residents complained that technical glitches in the online payment system forced them to visit the civic centre and stand in long queues.Till 10pm, Rs2.91-crore property tax was collected from 3,523 holdings, an official said, adding that the figure was expected to reach Rs3 crore by midnight. In the last fiscal, the PMC had collected around Rs1.63 crore by June 30.Ujjwal Kaur Mishra, a resident of Boring Road, said: “If the online portals worked, we would not have queued up.” He said he was at 50th position in the queue at 1pm and had moved only to 20th place by 5pm. “This shows how slowly the payments were progressing as the servers were lagging,” he said.Another taxpayer, Sudhir Kumar from New Capital Circle, alleged that residents were not adequately informed about the increase in Annual Rental Value (ARV). He also criticised the arrangements made to handle the surge in footfall.While residents continued to complain about server lag and failed online transactions, senior officials of the PMC’s revenue department denied reports of any major technical disruption.PMC commissioner Yashpal Meena said the civic body would look at expanding offline payment facilities to prevent such congestion in future. “We will try to increase the number of offline counters. PMC already has counters at its headquarters and all circle offices,” he said.Meena said the rush was primarily driven by taxpayers seeking to avail the rebate before the June 30 deadline. “There was heavy traffic on the system, which may have slowed down the servers,” he said. He added that the PMC would continue to encourage online payments through its portal so that citizens do not have to rely on offline counters.
