Kolkata Municipal Corporation online services have been disrupted since Saturday after a problem at a data centre cut off the civic body’s internet connectivity, preventing residents from paying taxes and accessing birth and death certificates.
A senior Kolkata Municipal Corporation official told Anandabazar that no online work was taking place at the civic body and that residents were facing difficulties in several ways. The disruption was reported on September 17, with the municipal administration yet to restore normal online operations.
Online payments have been among the most affected services. Residents have been unable to pay property tax and other departmental taxes through the corporation’s digital systems. People who came to obtain birth and death certificates were also reportedly returning without the documents because the relevant online processes were unavailable.
The disruption is affecting multiple departments rather than a single municipal service. A civic official said that there were problems in almost every department and that services could return to normal only after internet connectivity was restored.
The outage has also created an operational and financial problem for the corporation. Property tax collections in the current financial year were already described as being at a low level compared with the previous financial year. Since Saturday, the inability to collect property tax payments online has further affected the civic body’s revenue flow and placed additional pressure on its treasury.
The problem is reportedly not limited to the Kolkata Municipal Corporation. Administrative sources said online services in several government areas were also facing disruptions, with district administrations reporting similar difficulties. The common issue was linked to the data centre, although the supplied report did not identify the facility or the technical failure in detail.
Administrative sources said the online system was being revised for security reasons and that all services would be restored soon. No specific restoration time, alternative payment channel or interim process for obtaining certificates was announced in the report. Until connectivity is restored, residents dependent on the affected digital services may need to wait for further instructions from the municipal and government authorities.
