On the penultimate day of filing of income tax returns, everything went smoothly at Palace Grounds IT Mela. There was no rush, no long queues, and no confusion.

Today being the last day for filing the returns, the venueis expected to draw a larger crowd than during the last few days.

The income tax department officials are aiming to cover about 450,000 entries in this mela which had been going on for 16 days. It provided 90 centralised special counters which made the job easy for Bangaloreans.

This year, they did not hear the usual refrain, Go to that counter, get this detail, come tomorrow from IT officials.

In fact, most people thanked the officials present and also praised the department for a peaceful venue selected for the occasion. Parking was free for visitors on all days.

Even the first-timers did not have any problem in filing their tax returns. A few shared their experience with DNA. Ravi Sharma an employee at GKVK, said: As you see it, there is no rush today. Maybe tomorrow, it will be overcrowded.

I was out of town and came running to file my returns. As luck would have it, I managed to complete everything in five minutes. I couldnt believe it and I thanked the tax officials for making it so easy.

Mathew John Samuels, who works with VHL Life Sciences, said: I was told it wont take much time. So I came in at the last minute and it got over in just 10 minutes. This means a lot to me. A few years back, it took three to four days for me to file my returns. I could not attend office on those days and my salary was cut.

Kamath Rao, who came from Whitefield to file his tax returns, was happy with the way the mela was organised. I took my sisters children along. They are quite young. I was praying they will not get bored and throw tantrums if things get delayed. To my surprise, it only took just 10 minutes, he said with a smile.

Farida Rehman, a businesswoman, closed her office to file the returns and was happy as the filing of tax took only 15 minutes for her.