Sovan lashes out at GPO for refusing to accept old notes

Mayor Sovan Chatterjee on Tuesday criticised the Centre and said that the General Post Office (GPO) refused to accept old currency notes worth Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 which Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) received from property tax payers.

The KMC has extended the last date for paying property tax till November 24. To give relief to property tax payers, Chatterjee announced that KMC would accept the old currency notes that have been banned. Accordingly, thousands of tax payers queued in front of several KMC offices and deposited the tax. Chatterjee himself visited the KMC headquarters on SN Banerjee Road on Sunday to ensure that those who had queued up to pay taxes did not face any problem.

KMC staff of the Collection department on Tuesday took the money to the local post office which did not take money. Later, they were sent to GPO to deposit the money. But the GPO also refused to accept the money on the grounds that it did not receive any instruction. A senior civic official said the money would have to be deposited somewhere. When the Centre has allowed the banks to accept old Rs 500 and Rs 1000 notes till December 30, it is unfortunate that the GPO had refused to accept the money.

A visibly annoyed Chatterjee said when the civic authorities were trying to give” some relief to the property tax payers by allowing them to pay the tax in old currencies such behaviour on the part of GPO was uncalled for.”