Corp to bring revenue wing of its Edappally office under lens

Kochi: In a major move to check the loss of building tax payment amount due to technical issues with K-Smart online platform, the civic body has decided to bring the operations of the revenue wing at its zonal office at Edappally under scrutiny.
The authorities took the decision to scrutinise operations after receiving complaints that the zonal office officials are sending back people who turn up at the office to pay building tax directly.
In 2023-24, the corporation’s revenue from building tax had fallen by Rs 1 crore despite increasing the tax rates.
Authorities have decided to send the corporation secretary and the additional secretary to the Edappally office on Monday and Tuesday respectively to monitor the activities there, other senior officials from the main office will go there and scrutinise the operations of the zonal office on the remaining days of the week.
“The corporation secretary and other top officials should also submit a report on the functioning of the K-Smart platform at the zonal office. If lapses in tax collection are not addressed, I will have to stop signing the salary bills of all the revenue officials of the corporation,” mayor M Anilkumar said during a council meeting on Friday.
“There have been several incidents where the officials with the revenue wing at Edappally office sent back the people who reached there to pay building tax after facing difficulty to pay it through K-Smart. The officials did not cite any reason for sending them back. They just told them to come again after 10 days. It is very unfortunate,” said C A Shakkir, a CPI councillor.
The mayor also entrusted deputy mayor K A Ansiya to conduct meetings to review the progress of the implementation of K-Smart in the corporation every week. “People are coming up with complaints that data regarding their buildings is not there in K-Smart. So, they are unable to pay the taxes online. The officials with the revenue wing should add the data of such buildings when the owners turn up at the office. But the officials, especially those at the Edappally office, fail to do that,” the mayor said. Moreover, corporation secretary Sini Chelsa should conduct periodical review meetings until all issues related to K-Smart are sorted out, the mayor stated.
During the meeting the corporation authorities also took steps to float a special purpose vehicle (SPV) to operate the local body’s RoRo vessels plying in the Fort Kochi-Vypeen sector. They plan to float the SPV by joining hands with agencies like KMRL, the mayor informed the council. Issues in the LED streetlight project also will be taken up with the CSML, which is the implementing agency, the mayor said.