High rise buildings apartments coming up on the outskirts of Bengaluru.
| Photo Credit: K BHAGYA PRAKASH
The inordinate delay in issuance of property identification (PID) numbers by the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike to A Khata holders is proving to be a hindrance to citizens who want to pay property tax promptly.
They are now forced to run pillar to post or left at the mercy of agents who fleece them. According to a revenue official, there are hundreds of such cases pending.
For instance, Vinay T. (name changed), who has a flat in Bellandur, has been struggling for the past two months to get the PID so that he can pay the property tax due under the one-time settlement (OTS) scheme rolled out by Deputy Chief Minister and Bengaluru Development Minister D.K. Shivakumar.
“The BBMP, dependent on property tax for its financial resources, does not appear keen on issuing PID. I applied for the same in May, but I have not received the PID.” Mr. Vinay said touts at the local civic body office are demanding ₹3,000-₹4,000 to get him a PID. He refused to pay the money since he was not in the wrong.
Another resident of Wilson Garden told The Hindu that he was fed up with visiting the BBMP office multiple times.
“Every day, they say the process will be completed in the next two days. The same statement is repeated during every enquiry for PID. I have been struggling to get the PID for the past three months.
A senior civic official admitting there is a delay in issuing PID blamed the existing system. He said hundreds of such cases are pending in many BBMP offices, and only digitalisation of the entire process will solve the problem. He said that the civic body was working towards the same.
Another BBMP official said there are two reasons for the delay. One is technical, and the other is corruption. When someone applies for the PID, the BBMP must verify the documents, which takes some time. There are many fake documents that the land mafia can generate, and to rule out this, the BBMP is extra cautious. Explaining another reason he said the agents have a nexus with the BBMP officials. The officials delay the process, forcing the property owners to approach the agents. After collecting the money, the agents have to give a cut to these officials, he explained.
