Friday, October 16, 2009

Corruption in BBMP, Bangalore

When the IT city is feeling hunky dory with rapid strides in making online property tax payments there are guys within the department who want a face to face dialogue. Because here lies the catch..on some pretext or the other you will feel greasing is better than paying more tax. I had a personal experience this afternoon while going to pay the property tax for a relative of mine. Since old pending tax can not be paid online I had to go personally and enquire about the dues/cess/penalty etc etc. But the guy who either was'nt pleased by my confidence in the office (I've lived in Bangalore for 42 yrs) thought that I was a recent entrant and hence made things difficult to pay the tax. He cited Khatha/owner occupied etc. He also filled up the form and mentioned that he has entered it as "owner occupied" so as to qualify for 50 % lesser tax (as a favour for me) But he wanted to see the Khatha which was immediately not available..I called up the Asst Revenue officers and all passed the buck around....until one officer (Shanker Rao, Marathalli) said ...if he does not accept the tax....ask him to give it in writing....it worked...the Government needs the money now more than ever before...BBMP is one of the coffers which the State relies on to augment relief activities.....guys like Mr V................of BBMP mobile 94486-----are a shame on society bringing disrepute and infamy to the positive initiatives of BBMP. I noticed a harassed tax payer shouting at an employee for demanding Rs 100 to fill up the application form..He wanted to pay Rs 50 which itself should not be taken....they refused to accept ...saying they are busy...CORRUPTION IS RAMPANT IN THE LOWER ECHELONS OF BBMP......Lok Ayukta is concentrating on the big fish now and the small guys are making hay when the sun is shining for them....while the flood victims suffer in untold agony and pain!!
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