A number of residents of the Kolkata municipal area have alleged that they have failed to pay their property tax online even after multiple attempts over several days and they are doubtful if they will be able to pay by the date till which a rebate is allowed.
Some said the website of the Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) showed the message “Internal server error” when they tried to make the payment. Others said though money had been debited from their bank accounts, the civic body’s website said the transaction had failed.
Taxpayers said the trouble had started last month.
“I tried to pay the tax on two days and failed both times. Once, after I gave my Net banking details and tried to pay, the message ‘Interval server error’ appeared on the screen. The same message appeared the next time when I entered my assessee number and tried to search for the dues,” said a Kasba resident.
He finally went to an office of the KMC in Jadavpur and stood in a queue to make the payment.
A resident of Ballygunge Phari went to the KMC headquarters on SN Banerjee Road on Monday after he failed to pay the tax online. Even there he faced problems in paying the tax.
“The person at the counter said there was a problem with the server,” said the man. “If I can’t pay the tax in the next few days, I will lose out on the rebate.”
The civic body offers taxpayers a rebate of 5 per cent on the tax amount if the tax for a quarter is paid within a specified date, which is mentioned in the bill.
If the tax for all four quarters — the entire year — is paid together within the specified date, the property owner gets an additional 5 per cent rebate.
“I tried to pay my tax with my credit card on Tuesday. The entire process was smooth. But even after the money was debited, the KMC website flashed a message that the payment was incomplete,” a Ballygunge resident said.
“I called up my bank and they advised me to wait for a few days and check the KMC website for confirmation of the payment. There was no payment confirmation till late on Tuesday.”
A Behala resident said he had a similar problem. After waiting for about a week, he approached an employee at a KMC office near his locality. The employee confirmed that the civic body had received the payment.
An official of the KMC said the problems might have occurred because of “extraneous factors” and the civic body might not be at fault.
“We recommend that people use updated versions of browsers like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer while logging into the KMC website. Usually, there is immense traffic in the system between noon and 4pm on working days. The browser may respond slower during that period and that may lead to delays,” said the official.
There are about 9.14 lakh taxpayers in the Kolkata municipal area. “One gets a rebate if the tax is paid within 21 days of the presentation date of the bill,” said an official.