Delhi: SDMC plans doorstep property tax collection service

A proposal to launch the service, on the lines of a similar “doorstep delivery of services” scheme being run by the Delhi government, was cleared by SDMC’s standing committee last month.

The South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) has decided to provide a doorstep service to help taxpayers file property tax through ‘mobile sahayaks’ (assistants), in a bid to improve revenue collection that was hit by the pandemic.

The officials said the move is expected to enhance the civic body’s property tax collection, which “had not been satisfactory” this year. (Reuters file photo. Representative image)

A proposal to launch the service, on the lines of a similar “doorstep delivery of services” scheme being run by the Delhi government, was cleared by SDMC’s standing committee last month.

South corporation officials said the service was mooted after residents complained of problems in filling property tax through the updated online system. People were facing problems in uploading documents and server issues.

The officials said the move is expected to enhance the civic body’s property tax collection, which “had not been satisfactory” this year.

Municipal officials said the estimated number of dwelling units (households) in SDMC’s jurisdiction is around 12 lakh, which include unauthorised colonies, rural and urban villages. They said the target for 2020-21 is around Rs 1,100 crore of which Rs 500 crore has been collected so far.

“We held special camps for offline collection of property tax but due to the coronavirus pandemic, people did not turn up in expected numbers. So ultimately we mooted a proposal to introduce a doorstep service to collect tax from citizens. This will help people, especially elderly citizens, in filling house tax,” Rajdutt Gahlot, chairman SDMC standing committee, said.

According to the policy, residents will have to make a call to SDMC’s call centre to avail of the facility named the “doorstep service of collection of property tax through mobile sahayaks”.

The applicants will get a unique token number for all future references till the final payment is made in SDMC’s account.

“It will work on the model of the Delhi government’s doorstep delivery of services. A mobile sahayak, equipped with a tablet and internet connection, will visit the residences of applicants on a given date and time and help the users in filing the property tax. Users will have to pay a facilitation fee after a successful transaction of the tax amount to SDMC,” the official said.

After an approval from the House, the corporation would engage an agency for providing the doorstep service, Gahlot said. The deadline to roll out this scheme is January 2021.

Gahlot said the scheme would not put any financial burden on the municipality as beneficiaries would have to pay a nominal facilitation fee to the agency assigned the task of doorstep collection of property tax.

“On successful completion of the property tax transaction, the mobile sahayak shall collect a nominal facilitation fee from the taxpayer. However, like the Delhi government’s facilitation fees, we have proposed a cap on this fee, which will be not more than Rs.100 per successful transaction. This scheme will help improve SDMC’s tax collection,” Gahlot said.

Atul Goyal, president United Residents Joint Action of Delhi — an umbrella body of RWAs — appreciated the move, saying such innovative ideas would not only improve tax collection of the cash-strapped civic body but also make the process hassle-free for citizens.

“It’s a good move. A Rs 100 convenience fee is not a problem to avail of benefits of this scheme as residents had to spend more when they go to MCD offices to file property taxes. This decision should be implemented uniformly in the east and north corporations as well,” Goyal said.