The income tax commissioner in Bhubaneswar, BK Sahu, told The Financial Express the department was expecting that the `One by Six' scheme would increase the number of assessees by about 15 to 20 per cent in a couple of years. According to him, the number of assessees in Bhubaneswar city is expected to increase to 60,000 from 35,000 now. Similarly, the number of assessees in Rourkela and Cuttack together is likely to increase by about 25,000.

The income-tax officials in Orissa appears to be worried as the scheme is not getting adequate response from the citizens of the four cities.

Even though the last date for filing income-tax returns has expired on June 30, very few people have filed their papers.

Realising that the lukewarm response is due to inadequate publicity, the income-tax authorities have launched an awareness campaign in the four cities.

Besides putting up advertisements in local newspapers, the authorities are also organising seminars and talk shows to educate the people.

Under the scheme, anyone who satisfies one or more of the six conditions - owns a telephone, a four-wheeler, house, credit card, member of an expensive club, travelled overseas at own expense - shall have to file returns.

Sahu said that people were not filing the returns owing to ignorance and fear of harassment by the tax officials. He, however, said that the scheme was very simple and any layman could fill up Form 2C. He said that the tax authorities had also opened up Help Counters to assist the people in this matter. The commissioner assured that the penalty clause would not be invoked for the people who would file their return immediately. He, however, cautioned that Rs 500 fine would be imposed if the returns were not filed within a reasonable time.