Property tax: Residents forced to return in absence of UID numbers

 Despite orders from mayor Balkar Sandhu, the fund starved municipal corporation (MC) has failed to keep the record of unique identification (UID) numbers of properties at the suwidha kendras, resulting in harassment of the visitors coming to submit their taxes.

The residents are being sent back by the staff and are told to come with the UID numbers of their properties. It is mandatory to list the UID number of a property while paying tax at the suwidha kendras but the process of allotting them has not been completed in the city so far and it also has many shortcomings. As per the MC officials, the project has been completed in 34 blocks out of 37 in the city.

In May this year, the mayor had said that the staff was sending back residents who would come to pay their taxes, at a time when MC was facing fund shortage. Following this, he had directed the staff of suwidha kendras to maintain a record of the UID numbers of properties.

A Model Town resident, Gurdev Singh, said that he had gone to submit the tax for his property in Model Town Extension area but was sent back by the staff of suwidha kendras, stating that one could not submit the amount without the property’s UID number. “When I visited the office for the second time, I told the staff that no UID number was allotted against my property. The staff checked their office records and even they did not find any UID number allotted against my property,” Singh said. 

Sham Singh Road resident Gurbachan Singh said they were having a harrowing time at the suwidha kendras. “The staff does not provide any information and just claims that they cannot submit the tax without the UID number,” he said.

MC superintendent Rajeev Bhardwaj said that staff having UID records was already deployed at the suwidha kendras of MC, adding that the residents facing trouble could contact any of those staff members who sit at one of the counters. “The records regarding UID numbers is available with the staff. The MC is allotting UID numbers against the properties in the city under GIS-based property survey. Under this project, online record of each and every property in the city, regarding tax and water/sewer user charges, is being maintained,” he said.