Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): The Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) server will remain shut on Saturday and Sunday, suspending property tax payments and other online services, including financial transactions, tendering and e-filing. The shutdown is part of a migration exercise to transfer around 5.5 lakh property tax accounts to the Madhya Pradesh government's e-Nagar Palika 2.0 platform.
The move comes after Free Press had reported the scams and vulnerabilities linked to the SAP-based system, including a Rs 14 lakh tax embezzlement case in Ward 33. The decision to shift to the state government's platform was taken when Sanskriti Jain was serving as BMC commissioner.
Software migration will begin on Friday night, with the first phase focusing on integrating property accounts. Urban administration officials trained BMC employees on Thursday to ensure a smooth transition. The corporation's IT team has had its leave cancelled for the two-day exercise to minimise disruptions when offices resume on Monday.
The BMC has been operating on its own software for years, managing property tax accounts, payments, employee salaries and civil works files through the existing SAP-based system.
However, discrepancies in property tax accounts and inadequate monitoring of online processes have raised concerns. The city has approximately 5.5 lakh residential and commercial property tax accounts and more than 2.5 lakh water tax accounts. Duplicate property accounts have remained a persistent problem. Officials plan to identify and eliminate duplicate accounts during the migration process.
Corrections may require departmental approval
According to BMC's IT department, under the new system, the corporation will have to forward files to the Urban Administration and Housing Development Department (UADD) for amendments, instead of making certain corrections directly at the ward level.
