Bhubaneswar, Feb. 8: The municipal corporation has introduced online payment of holding tax in Chandrashekharpur and Patia.

The move, which is the first-of-its-kind initiative in the city, has received thumbs up from its residents.

'This is a good move as we can pay our holding taxes online just sitting at home,' said Janardan Samant of Niladri Vihar.

For those who cannot pay their holding taxes online can visit the citizen service centre, which is housed at the district centre in Chandrashekharpur.

'Visiting the jana seva kendra or citizen service centre also saves time. One just has to go there and within a few minutes the payment is done. There is no need to rush to the corporation office,' said Subhakant Moharana, a trader of Chandrashekharpur area.

Officials of the corporation said that the data of households in the area had been uploaded on the corporation server, which is maintained by the state government entity Odishaonline.

Now people have to tell their name or household number and all their information will be flashed out. 'They will pay the holding tax and get their receipt immediately,' the official said.

People in Chandrashekharpur and Patia living in tax ward No. 11 can take the help of online payment or the citizen service centre to deposit their holding taxes for the first time from this month.

Sources said that there are around 25,000 households recorded in tax ward No. 11, which is the largest in terms of number of households in the city.

The corporation area has been divided into 15 tax wards for revenue collection and there are 92,000 households - both commercial and residential - recorded with the civic body. The corporation is assessing other households under its jurisdiction that have not been recorded.

Though the corporation has added holding tax payment to the list of services provided by the jana seva kendra at Chandrashekharpur from the beginning of this month, the centre has already been providing facilities such as depositing electricity and water bills, availing death and birth certificates and reservation of tickets for Odisha State Road Transport Corporation buses.

'As the data of households in tax ward No. 11 have been collected and uploaded on our server, it would be easy for people residing in this area to pay holding tax online or through the jana seva kendra,' said Subhranshu Mishra, deputy secretary of the corporation.

Officials of the corporation said as the collection of data of households in other localities had not been finished, the payment of holding tax in those areas were not included into the list of services provided by the jana seva kendras.

The corporation that had targeted to double its holding tax collection this year has been lagging far behind.