Pay Taxes Online with BMC's New Initiative
By CXOtoday Staff
Mumbai, Aug 19, 2008

Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has made the life of Mumbaikars a tad easier by enabling online payment of taxes and applications for various certificates. Under an agreement with Sify Technologies Limited, BMC can now leverage Sify's ePort cyber caf chain in Mumbai to provide online services to Mumbai's citizens.

These services include:

* Payment of water tax and property tax

* Renewing shop and establishment licenses

* Applying for birth and death certificates

* Applying for health licenses,

* Registering complaints and tracking the status of complaints

Citizens can now visit any of the 250 e-port cafes in the city to access these facilities online. The ePorts will function as civic service centers for BMC, so citizens need not have a Sify account to avail these services.

According to a press statement, citizens need to follow a four step procedure to avail of this service:

1. Carry the bill or reference number to the Sify e-port

2. The caf host logs on to the MCGM website at 'www.mcgm.gov' and confirms the bill, name, or amount

3. The cafe host accepts the money and pays online on behalf of the citizen

4. The person is given the print out of the receipt

The advantage of this method according to MCGM is that even people not familiar with computers or the Internet can use these online services.

At present there are 40 million bills being paid annually in Mumbai alone towards property tax, water tax, birth and death certificates, licenses, etc.

Related links:
MCGM's Portal: an E-governance Project for Mumbai