The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation has started sending out tax bills to households under its area.

While residents of Salt Lake have already received the notifications and some have even paid up, those staying in Rajarhat and adjoining areas will be soon getting the bills by post by the end of this month.

According to a corporation official, the last date of submission of the property tax for the first three quarters that has already been generated is January 31, 2018.

The bills for the last quarter will also be given out soon and are meant to be paid by March 31.

Unlike previous years when people had to pay at designated counters at Poura Bhavan, this year the corporation has tied up with HDFC Bank for bill payment. “Residents can walk into any HDFC Bank branch in the corporation area to pay,” said Abhijit Ghosh, the finance officer of the corporation. In Salt Lake, residents can pay at any of the three HDFC bank branches in Sector I, II and III.

He told The Telegraph Salt Lake that a steady stream of residents are paying up. “The taxes have been sent according to the old assessment rates,” said the official.

The civic body has been sending out the letters since end-November.

According to an official, property tax forms an integral part of any corporation’s income. Since Salt Lake’s tax system had been mired in legal issues since the days of the erstwhile Bidhannagar Municipality when residents had moved court, the corporation was largely dependent on doles handed out by the state government.

“This cannot continue as any healthy civic body has to earn revenue,” said the official. Other forms of revenue for the corporation include advertisement taxes and commercial property taxes.

Kumar Shankar Sadhu, general secretary of the Salt Lake Welfare Association, which had filed a case against the civic body over property taxes, said:  “Since they have raised the bill at the old rate, we have no objection.”

As for the legal tussle over taxes,  the finance officer said: “The case has been pending for a very long time. We will submit a fresh proposal to the court so that the earlier case is declared null and void.”

Many residents have been landing up at Poura Bhavan to make the payment, only to learn that they have to do so at some HDFC branch.

The bank’s branches have been witnessing long queues over the last few days. “I’m paying tax in Salt Lake for the first time as my father-in-law, whose lives in BJ Block, is ill. There’s a queue of 10 to 12 people inside and they’re only taking cash and cheque. Even for cash, they’re asking for exact tender. Now I have to wander about looking for change,” said a man rushing out of the HDFC branch in CJ Block.

BH Block’s Sachitanand Jha left seeing the length of the queue on his first attempt. “It’s too crowded today and I don’t have time. Since the last date of payment is January 31, I’ll return later,” he said, adding that he preferred paying at the bank to going to Poura Bhavan. “Online payment would have been the best but at least there are a few banks for us to visit now, as opposed to the single address (Poura Bhavan) before.”