Mangaluru: The Mangaluru City Corporation has extended the last date for the payment of property taxes from September 30 to October 31. “We had mentioned earlier that the last date for the payment of property taxes would be September 30, but we have extended the last date to October 31 without any penalty. The decision was taken due to the COVID-19 lockdown and pandemic and the hardships faced by the people. Those who fail to pay the property tax by October 31 will have to pay a fine of 2 per cent on the amount due,” said Mayor Diwakar Pandeshwar during a press meet at the MCC Meeting Hall on Wednesday, September 30.

Speaking to the media, MCC Commissioner Akshay Sridhar said, “From October 2, the Mangaluru City Corporation (MCC) will start a trial of its newly developed trade license software. With the Council approving the same, the trial could last two to three weeks. It will help the MCC sort out any glitches in the online issuing trade licenses. Training to operate the software will be imparted to both the officials and applicants of trade licenses.”

With the new software, people will able to apply for a new trade license, renew their existing trade license, upload documents and photos of the trade, pay the trade license fee, and cancel it, all online. Officials will use the software to endorse the license, print it and even let the applicants know of the status of their application online. 

“All the trade licenses will be geo-tagged to prevent misuse or duplication,” he added.

The software was developed by state-owned Keonics Ltd. They will also make a  mobile app for license applicants, officials/health inspectors of the MCC, and portal monitoring management system, along with the hardware application. The rollout of this software will enable the MCC to provide people with more online payment options including water bills, which they otherwise do at banks or Mangalore One. The final stages of the implementation will be the enabling of people to pay their property taxes online with the help of a supporting property tax calculator. 

“The rollout is expected to occur on December 1 and the servers for the same are being set up,” the Commissioner added.

Speaking about illegal flexes, the Commissioner said that stringent action will be taken against anyone found to be installing flex hoardings without a license. He also informed that drives remove illegal hoardings will be held on a regular basis.

Action will be taken against those selling and using plastic carry bags that have been banned in the MCC limits. Fines amounting to Rs 1500 or more will be levied and cases will be filed against violators. 

Speaking further, the Commissioner informed that a  week’s time has been given to illegal street vendors occupying footpaths and other places, after which they will be evicted by force.

Waste segregation will be implemented in all 60-wards of the MCC from October 2. A grace period of 10-days has been given to those who don’t segregate waste after which fines, as approved in the civic body’s bylaws, will be levied. The fines will range from Rs 1,500 for not segregating household waste. For dumping construction debris in the open, a fine of Rs 25,000 will be levied. 

The MCC, the Commissioner informed, is considering setting up CCTV surveillance in those open spaces that have become a dumping ground for construction debris. “Health inspectors and environmental engineers will monitor waste segregation,” he added.

The civic body has already directed waste bulk generators to set up their own processing plants or make arrangements for the scientific disposal of the same. Households, hotels, hostels, educational institutions, bars and restaurants, marriage halls, catering firms, and businesses that convert wet waste into compost will get a 50 percent rebate in solid waste management cess paid as part of their property taxes. Forms for this purpose will be provided by the MCC from October 2. Compost arrangements in households, institutions will be verified by the health inspectors to facilitate them to claim the rebate,” he said.

Regarding the High Court coming down heavily on the MCC for its handling of solid waste after the garbage slide at Pacchanady, the Commissioner said that the MCC will comply with all the directives once it gets a copy of the same.

To a query about the Central Market, the Commissioner said that only traders with genuine documents and trade licenses in their name will be permitted to conduct business at the place. When the construction of the state-of-the-art market starts, temporary arrangements for these traders will be made.
 
Dr. Santhosh Kumar and MCC Deputy Commissioner (Administration) were present on the dais. Binoy, MCC Revenue Officer, Madhu -the MCC Environmental Engineer, and other MCC officials were present.