In a progressive move to bring all genders and communities together, the Bhubaneshwar civic body has roped in members of the transgender community to collect pending taxes from public in the city.
The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation will take the help of transgender community to collect a pending amount of Rs 11 crore.
The BMC has signed an agreement with TG Swikruti Self Help Group to get transgender on board in a bid to recover held taxes and license fee in the capital city of Odhisa, according to a report by India Today.
The BMC selected 10 members from the transgender community and formed a team. They were imparted training in tax collection procedure using POS machines. They are also provided a uniform, an identity card and a vehicle for the purpose.
The group visits door- to -door of the tax defaulters' with messages like, " Pay your tax, get blessings from us".
The members on their day one of duty collected an amount of Rs 70,000. The members will caryy out the drive for the entire month and submit a report to BMC.
The members will be paid on the basis of the amount that is being collected by them.?
The community has expressed gratitude and happiness over the move and thanked BMC for introducing this practice for tax collection.
"I am thankful to BMC and state government for giving us the opportunity to carry out this noble work and earn a living for ourselves. This also brings us to mainstream," Meghna Sahu, a member of the transgender community and President of Swikriti told India Today.
Over the past few years, efforts have been made to uplift the transgender community in the country. However, transgenders feel there is lot more to do in the fight for equality.