Southern States - Tamil Nadu-Chennai   

Alandur municipality launches Online payment

By K.Manikandan

CHENNAI OCT. 15. The `Online payment' of property tax and water charges for residents of the Alandur Municipality began today with the opening of two counters at Parthasarathy Nagar and at the Municipal office premises.

Claiming that the service was the first of its kind in the State, K Jayaraman, Municipal Commissioner, said apart from payment of property tax and water charges, the residents could also utilise the facility to get birth and death certificates.

He said the move was part of the steps towards complete `e-governance' and very soon the administrative functions of the municipality would be accessed Online. Once completed, residents could register their complaints from their homes or from an Internet kiosk apart from being informed of the dues that they had to pay to the municipality.

Mr. Jayaraman said apart from the two centres (that had a working inauguration sans a function), three more would soon be opened at Nanganallur, B.V. Nagar and near the Adambakam Railway Gate. Plans were also on to make payments at the IOB and ICICI branches at Alandur.

A sum of around Rs. 12 lakhs had been spent on these five centres, which would be open even on Sundays, to help office-goers, Mr Jayaraman said.

The Municipal Chairman, R.S. Bharathi, who visited the Online centre, expressed apprehension over the functioning of the computer systems during power cuts. Officials and engineers of the municipality allayed fears and said adequate steps were taken to provide back-up power for two hours and that it could be upgraded to four hours if necessary.

A senior resident of Parthasarathy Nagar, who was among the first to pay the water charges using the facility, said it was convenient as it helped in avoiding long trips to the municipality office, and saved a lot of time.

The retired engineer, however, was puzzled when the receipt mentioned that he had arrears of close to Rs 200, even as he maintained that he had paid all taxes. When he brought the matter to the attention of the staff, he was told that the matter would soon be sorted out.

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