Patna: Sparrow Softech Private Limited, the firm which had been roped in for the property tax collection work of the Patna Municipal Corporation (PMC), has already collected around Rs 40 crore since April this year against the Rs 108 crore target set for the private firm this financial year (2018-19).

For the first time, the property tax collection is being carried out while reaching people's doorsteps as tax collectors roped in by the private firm are visiting people's houses to collect tax. This had not been done earlier.

In the last fiscal, PMC had been able to collect only around Rs 44 crore as property tax from residential and commercial establishments. While of this Rs 44 crore, Rs 17.58 crore had been collected by Sparrow Softech Private Limited as it had started its operations on January 10 this year.

"The property tax collection work is going on in full momentum as our tax collectors have been able to collect around Rs 40 crore property tax in this financial year since April from 1.15 lakh households. Tax is being collected by our collectors through all the modes. Residents can pay by cash card, debit card, credit card, RuPay and whatever card they might use. The tax collectors are moving with Point of Sale (PoS) machine which have been provided by HDFC Bank to us. Residents can also make the payment through cheque or demand draft which they have to give in the name of the PMC commissioner," said the director of Sparrow Softech Private Limited, Rajesh Sinha, over phone from Jharkhand.

He said his firm was working for 26 urban local bodies in Bihar, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh. He added: "Residents also have an option for payment online at www.patnamunicipal.net.

Residents can also search property related details, the tax amount which they are supposed to pay for a particular property, whether they have paid the property tax or not and details regarding the tax collector engaged by the private agency for the collection of property tax. The residents' property Process Identification Number (PID) has been linked to the website through which they can see all details related to the property tax. Residents depositing property tax online would get a quick message that would confirm their property tax deposition," he added.

While the private agency is also supposed to provide the hard copy of the receipt to the residents at their doorstep even if they have submitted their property tax online.

Rajesh said the private agency was also managing 12 Jan Suvidha Kendras in prominent places of Patna where residents could go and pay the tax themselves.

On the employees engaged by the private firm in the tax collection work, he said: "Our workforce on field is around 158. These are the tax collectors. Besides, we are also going to introduce 115 survey agents within a week or so. Actually their training is going on. The survey agents would carry out survey to check for left-out people and tax defaulters and further include them in the database. Our ultimate aim is100 per cent tax collection," he said.

Rajesh said while some properties were new in the database, some didn't even figure in the database while some needed to be reassessed. "All the functionalities are going on simultaneously," he added.

Sources said the private firm was also getting calls on its toll-free number as residents are asking them about the tax collectors who are turning up at their doorstep on whether they are genuine or not. Some people are also asking for new assessments.

Sources said PMC's failure in achieving 100 per cent property tax collection also can be gauged with the fact that it had roped in less manpower for the job than the private agency.

"PMC had deployed around 80 tax collectors while the private firm has employed 158 people for tax collection and it is going to engage 115 people for carrying out survey to check defaulters. This is what is making the difference," said a source.

A PMC source said: "As per agreement, the agency is supposed to collect minimum Rs 7.5 crore property tax per month and if it doesn't do it, a penalty of 20 per cent will be imposed on it. Besides, the agency's payment would also be held up. So various clauses have been added intentionally so that the agency lives up to the expectations of the tax collection work."