JOIN USIT dept achieves target
As the July 31 deadline ended on Saturday, the crowd far exceeded the expectations of the IT department (Karnataka Circle).
Income Tax Additional Secretary B Arulappa, who oversaw the arrangements at the venue, said: “We have covered all assesses for the year 2010-11. The number has met our expectations.”
The department had set a target of about three lakh plus and an estimated 3.4 lakh people turned up this year as against three lakh last year.
However, a small number of taxpayers might not have filed their returns yet. “The exact number will be known in a couple of days after calculation,” Arulappa added.
The incessant rains over the last three to four days not withstanding, the huge turnout of tax payers –– salaried and pensioners –– has come as a relief to the IT department that had opened 91 special counters at Palace Grounds.
IT officials said those who have still not filed their returns can approach the zonal IT office and file them. “Notices would be sent to those who have stayed away from filing the ITR-1 and ITR-2 forms,” IT department officials added.
Praise
As a token of appreciation for the hassle-free arrangements made by the IT department, employees from the public sector and Ministry of Defence felicitated IT staffers, as the deadline drew to a close.
The public too had a word of praise for the IT department’s initiative. Sandeep Shenoy, an officer from a PSU bank, said the sheer number of special counters was a boon to the public. “It made our task easier. The queues were shorter and the time taken to file the returns was less than three minutes. Overall, congratulations to the IT staff,” he remarked.
Partho Bhattacharya, who works for a FMCG company, said: “The facilities were innovative. Having food courts at the venue was a good idea too.”