Ranchi Municipal Corporation (RMC) is charging late payment penalty on holding tax at a time when its online payment gateway has crashed due to technical glitches, forcing residents of the state capital to step out of their homes to pay at counters amid the Covid-19 pandemic.

The online payment facility has been out of order since August 12, RMC authorities admitted, adding that residents had the option to visit the Nagrik Suvidha Counter at the RMC building and pay holding tax in person.

RMC discontinued the services of Sparrow, an outsource agency roped in to handle collection of holding tax, in August. While the district administration has handed over the contract to another company, Shree Enterprises, the former firm is yet to handover the software for online payment to the new company, said Ranchi deputy mayor Sanjiv Vijaywargiya.

“Sparrow delayed the process of handing over the software to the new company. Online payment has been affected since August 12 due to the transfer of contract from one company to another,” Vijaywargiya said. “You can still visit Nagrik Suvidha Counter at RMC and make the payments. The online payment system will be back on track by November 3,” he added.

While the RMC has slapped penalty charges on people who could not pay holding tax in person, the government itself had urged residents to stay indoors in the wake of Covid-19 pandemic during the months of August and September.

Ranchi witnessed an explosion of Covid-19 cases in August and September. As per government data, there were 1,921 active cases of Covid-19 infection in Ranchi on August 12 and the tally here was 3,799. Cut to September 12, there were 3,673 active cases in Ranchi and the tally jumped to 12,562.

The revenue section in-charge of RMC, Sandeep Karn, admitted that there were “minor problems” in online payments due to the transfer of responsibilities from one company to another. However, he said that payment of holding tax did not stop in RMC as property owners visited the RMC office in person to make the payments and avoid penalty.

“The online payment system will be fully functional in the first week of November. We will not need more than a week to make hassle-free online payment of holding tax possible through our website,” said Karn.

Sambhu Nath, a retired professional staying in Kanke Road locality, said that he was waiting for a fixed deposit to mature, so he could clear the holding tax of around Rs 10,000 in August. “The amount is now close to Rs12,000. But I do not have an option other than waiting for the online payment system to be operational,” he said.

The holding tax section of RMC could not be accessed online on Saturday as it was under maintenance.