The municipal treasury in Hazaribagh is filling up incredibly fast.

Civic officials, who had a rough time chasing defaulters in the past, are now relaxing while people are making a beeline to clear pending property and water taxes. In 13 days from November 12, the corporation raked in a revenue of Rs 18.73 lakh, an unprecedented record.

Now, with the RBI extending the deadline for using old Rs 500 notes in exempt categories till December 15, the Hazaribagh Municipal Corporation hopes to recover a major chunk of the Rs 1 crore in pending dues from individual households, government buildings and land holdings.

Corporation vice-chairman Anand Deo said demonetisation had turned around municipal fortunes. "Earlier, the average daily earning through taxes was around Rs 50,000. Between November 12 and 24, tax revenue leaped beyond Rs 1 lakh a day. It was unbelievable!"

Urban Hazaribagh is divided into 32 wards. According to the last taxation survey in 2011, the wards have 19,680 land holdings, 19,101 homes and 579 government buildings. Back then, the population was only 1,42,489. Today, there are roughly 6 lakh residents in the town.

An employee at the municipal office said many of them had been assigned wards for tax collection in the past. "But, despite us visiting door to door, people refused to pay taxes on some pretext or the other even when their dues were more than Rs 10,000. Now, the same people are coming to our office in droves to clear their taxes with old notes," he said, requesting anonymity.

To make the most of this opportunity, the corporation has roped in a Ranchi-based private agency for a fresh survey of taxable property and water consumers.

Basant Rana, a retired government employee and resident of Matwari, conceded that he hadn't paid his civic taxes for three years, but cleared the outstanding amount of Rs 2,331 on November 19. "Modi ji ne majbur kar diya ki apna bakaya chukta kar dun (Modi's demonetisation move compelled me to pay my taxes)," Rana said.

Parmeshwar Singh, a resident of Imli Kothi Road, admitted that he had dodged taxes for four years. "I cleared my dues of Rs 3,200 on November 12 and was glad to get rid of six old Rs 500 notes." He said.

Similarly, Subodh Kumar of New Area Colony paid Rs 1,135, using two scrapped Rs 500 notes and loose change.

Corporation vice-chairman Deo said irrespective of the reason, they were just glad to see the revenue pouring in. " Woh bhi bina kisi prayas ke (That too without any extra effort)," he added.