Pune, 31st July 2023: On the last day of availing the concession in property tax, the Pune Municipal Corporation’s (PMC) website experienced technical difficulties, leading to its crash and disruption of online transactions. Citizens attempting to pay property tax from home or by visiting the ward offices were left in a difficult situation due to the non-functional website.
The PMC had offered a discount of 5 to 10 per cent in property tax for payments made between May 15 and July 31. Over the last two and a half months, the civic body had successfully collected revenue exceeding ₹1,100 crore. With the concession scheme ending on the 31st, citizens rushed to pay their taxes before the deadline.
As the ward offices opened at 10 am, large queues of citizens were seen waiting to pay their property tax. However, due to the heavy traffic on the website caused by multiple citizens trying to make payments simultaneously, the website became non-functional.
As a result, citizens faced challenges in paying their property taxes, and even the citizen facilitation centers were affected, experiencing system failures. This situation severely impacted the citizens and created frustration among those unable to complete their transactions.
Last year, a similar incident occurred when citizens flooded the ward offices to pay property tax on the last day, resulting in a system collapse. An extension of two days had been granted then to accommodate the affected citizens. However, despite the previous experience, the same issue recurred this year.
Ajit Deshmukh, the Head of the Property Tax Department, assured citizens that efforts were underway to rectify the issue with the help of the computer and electrical departments. Updates on the situation will be provided to keep citizens informed.
The PMC is working diligently to address the technical fault and ensure that citizens can avail the concession in property tax without further inconvenience.
