The Thiruvananthapuram Corporation has now provided all its bill collectors with electronic point of sale (e-POS) machines for property tax collection with an aim to improve transparency and prevent the chances for revenue fund misappropriation. According to Corporation officials, all of the 77 bill collectors under the Corporation, deployed to collect property tax from houses and commercial establishments, have been provided with e-POS machines.
Earlier, the bill collectors used to collect cash which got posted in the accounts and reflected in the records only at the end of the day or even the next day. With the introduction of the e-POS machine, which has centralised data for all the wards, the collection of tax at every building will be reflected in the records in real time.
The new system will also enable tax payers to pay using cards or mobile payment services. Till now, they could pay only through cash. According to officials, manipulation in receipts which used to take place once in a while also would not be possible with the introduction of e-POS machines.
In 2021, a few cases of misappropriation of revenue funds were reported from the zonal offices of the Corporation. Some officials were accused of siphoning off revenue collections that were supposed to be remitted to the Corporation Secretary’s account. Fund anomalies to the tune of over ₹30 lakh was unearthed across Sreekaryam, Nemom zones and Attipra zonal offices. The civic body had to publish a ward-wise list of those who had not paid building taxes after it was alleged that taxes which the public had paid were misappropriated. Some of the accused were also arrested.