A similar hand-held device will be used to collect holding tax. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Nov. 4: The municipal corporation is planning to roll out holding tax collection service at your doorstep. The move, if implemented, is expected to bring in more transparency, while making the tax deposition process hassle-free for house owners.

Armed with hand-held devices — much advanced than the ones used by bill collectors of the Central Electricity Supply Utility and city bus conductors — corporation officials will go on a door-to-door drive to collect holding tax.

The hand-held devices that the corporation plans to use will have global pocket radio service (GPRS) system installed in them. This GPRS system will ensure that when a bill is generated for a particular household, the central server of the corporation gets information about the transaction.

“This new system will be introduced in Jaydev Vihar on a pilot basis in the state. If it runs effectively, the service will be extended to other wards in the city, other municipal corporations and even bigger municipalities under the e-municipality programme,’’ said municipal commissioner Sanjib Kumar Mishra.

Jaydev Vihar now has 18,000 to 20,000 holdings or households. With its present strength, the corporation’s tax collection cell will take more than a year to collect revenue from a single ward. However, with the hand-held device, a group of tax collectors will take a month to cover all households.

“The tax collectors are now entering the collection details to another ledger after coming to their office, but with the GPRS-enabled hand-held machines there will be no need of entering the data in another ledger as it can be incorporated automatically within the city limits. It will also minimise corruption in the system,’’ said an official of the tax department.

Natabara Panda, an elderly resident of Jaydev Vihar, said: “Tax collectors coming to our doorsteps with hand-held machines would be a great help for old people like me. Till date, I have to go to the corporation office to pay my holding tax. Though the online system has started, I am unable to use it as I am not computer savvy.’’

At present, around 50 tax collectors collect Rs 20-22 crore a year as holding tax. But tax officials of the corporation hope that if the hand-held gadgets are used for providing bills to people at their doorsteps, then revenue collection will definitely go up.

The housing and urban development department has already given the go-ahead to the proposal. A nod from the financial department is required to buy 20-odd devices to be used for the pilot project in Jaydev Vihar.

“Once the approval comes, we can start the project within two months or even earlier,’’ said a corporation official.