Improving The Kolkata Municipal Corporation's Work Culture

Kolkata, the state capital of West Bengal, is one of the few metropolitan cities of India. The city of Kolkata offers a great lifestyle of Joy and Happiness. A large number of people from the nearby cities and states come here in Kolkata to earn and live. Kolkata is one of the 5 biggest cities in India. And being in this list means the opportunity to learn and to grow with the city. Although the prices for the real estate property in Kolkata has been stable but now these are expected to take a rise. Some good news is here to cheer up city dwellers and taxpayers of property. The Government recently distributed a circular in April 2012 in this regard. The Municipal Commissioner Arnab Roy have ordered the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) nod to rely only on digital data while sending property tax bills to the taxpayers of Kolkata. The distributed Circular also suggested the department to issue a statements for the respective property along with property tax bills. If there is any payments due, the same must have been mentioned in the statements and bills. One of the senior KMC assessment department officials said to the national daily correspondent, “We have been asked to provide a separate statement showing outstanding dues or zero outstanding dues along with tax bills for 2012-13. This new system will pave the way for minimizing harassment of taxpayers” In this system taxpayers will also be given an option to obtain a NOC (No Outstanding Certificate) over dues. The certificate can be obtained from the KMC website. “We are to introduce this system very shortly,” said another KMC Department officer. The proposal for this new system was approved at a mayor an KMC Officials' meet. The Municipal Commissioner Mr Roy was surprised to know that a large number of complaints from property taxpayers even after getting NOCs a large number of taxpayers are still receiving the bill and statements stating their outstanding amount. He was shocked by the complaint of a resident of Bhawanipore area, Amitava Roy. The Complaint said that he had paid Rs 20,000 at the KMC office on March 30, 2012 and received an NOC from the treasury department in the series. He was more shocked to know, that the department has sent him an outstanding statement and bill of Rs 15,000 claiming that the amount has been unpaid since 1980. After verification, it was came to knowledge that a KMC official of Deputy Managers Rank had sent this outstanding bill considering the manual register even after the availability of computerized records. In these computerized records, there were no outstanding against Roy’s property. There are many a complaints regarding property in Kolkata. After consulting the other KMC officials, property tax experts and legal officials that deal and specializes in property in Kolkata, the Municipal Commissioner of Kolkata, asked them to update computer data on unpaid property tax and to get rid of the old manual registers. The same proposal was referred to the Mayor Sovan Chatterjee to get an approval. After Chatterjee's approval and it was sent back to the municipal commissioner. And later the Municipal commissioner issued a circular and asked the KMC to immediately imply this system.