Chennai: Cash-starved local bodies in TN breathed easy with tax payments pouring in through the demonetised notes on Saturday. Tiruchy and Nagercoil corporation saw a total revenue generation of Rs 3.5 crore on a single day and with the Chennai corporation announcing 446 special counters to function on Sunday, the tax collection is likely to witness an all-time high, informed official sources told DC.
In an effort to facilitate the citizens who are encountering problems with paying bills after the demonetisation the Greater Chennai Corporation has made special arrangements and will open 446 special counters in all wards on Sunday and Monday, corporation commissioner D. Karthickeyan told DC. As part of the arrangement, old currencies of higher denomination will be accepted from public to pay property, commercial and professional taxes, he said.
It could be noted that the civic body has stopped accepting cash as a payment mode since 2002 and mandated payments only through cheque and online. However, as cash flow has become a serious difficulty after demonetisation of notes, the corporation has now decided to accept cash until November 14 of this month in all its 200 wards.
“Public can now visit ward/zonal offices, Ripon buildings, TACTV centres for the tax payment. For registering complaints and for assistance, public can contact corporation’s helpline number– 1913”, a press release from Ripon Buildings said.
Meanwhile the public has started paying their the electricity bills in advance using the scrapped notes. However, there is no surge in transactions, TNEB sources said. “There was no surge in the number of transactions happening at EB counters as we have already extended the date for payment to the end of the month. But it has been helpful for people that we have been accepting old '500 and Rs 1000 notes,” Tamil Nadu Electricity Board and Tamil Nadu Generation and Distribution Corporation (Tangedco) managing director M. Saikumar told DC.
