CHENNAI: Fifty Grade 3 municipalities in the State, that are yet to go online, will be covered by e-governance by April, according to Commissionerate of Municipal Administration (CMA) officials.

An urban local bodies portal, developed by the CMA, links dedicated websites of 102 municipalities and 5 corporations. The Chennai Corporation, which falls outside the CMA's purview, and Grade 3 Municipalities are not included.

The websites can be accessed through http://tnulbs.tn.gov.in. The e-governance drive was launched in 2001 and, by 2006, most urban local bodies were covered.

However, glitches remain. All websites are in English and no Tamil versions are being planned yet. Several links, especially for smaller municipalities, fail to lead to appropriate pages. Maps cannot be enlarged and the Flash Player software is required to open the home page of the portal.

The websites, intended to improve accountability, sometimes fail to include significant information. For instance, the Ambattur municipality has furnished all details regarding the implementation of the underground drainage scheme, but left the column for expected date of completion blank.

The municipalities have fairly similar sites. The same software was given to all urban local bodies to facilitate compatibility and training, explain the officials.

Corporations have taken a few liberties with the template and included more features.

They have software to find out how much tax was collected in specific bank branches or facilitation centres, the mode of payment and overall collection that can be separated zone-wise, ward-wise and service-wise, a feature absent in the Chennai Corporation website.

A simple search function helps one find out that the property tax and water charges collected through banks in Coimbatore on March 8 was a little above Rs. 3 lakh. Users can check their property or water charges dues or register and track the status of grievances.

The Madurai Corporation allows registered users to make online payment of property, water, professional taxes and non-tax lease items using their credit card.

All websites have details of budget estimates and annual revenue. Forms, including those for birth and death certificates, booking marriage halls, property tax revision and name transfer, can be downloaded.

Lists of councillors with their phone numbers and addresses, members of committees and voter populations, status of underground drainage system, utilisation of MLA and MP local area funds and works details are all available online.

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