The Times of India 09.10.2014
Several commercial buildings under Gaya civic body scanner
GAYA:
Marriage halls and other commercial buildings have come on the Gaya
Municipal Corporation (GMC) radar for three different reasons including
massive evasion of municipal tax and encroachment of public land. GMC
officials on Tuesday raided several commercial buildings including a
couple of marriage halls located near the Gaya circuit house.
According to municipal commissioner D S Ram Chandar, incidence of
massive evasion of municipal tax has come to light during the Tuesday
operation against the owners of commercial buildings. He told TOI that
initially 50 big buildings spread over different wards of the GMC have
been identified for thorough examination of the premises and
documentation of violations of building construction laws and other
rules.
According to Chandar, the evasion of municipal tax is
simply mindboggling. In respect of one of the marriage halls raided by
the municipal officials, it was found that as against a tax liability of
about Rs 1.5 lakh per annum, only Rs 11,000 was being paid by the
owner. Not only that, parking space of the hall has been converted into a
kitchen and the municipal drain has been encroached upon. Asked about
the follow up action, the municipal commissioner said the violators of
the law will be adequately penalised. Besides the upward revision of the
municipal tax of the commercial buildings in accordance with the real
measurement, notices are being issued to the violators for encroachment
removal.
Asked about the involvement of tax collectors and
other GMC employees, Chandar admitted that quite a few of the tax
collectors and other GMC employees are neck deep involved in
malpractices. As of now, class IV employees of the municipal body are
engaged in tax collection. He plans to give the tax collection job to
class III employees of the municipal body.
On account of tax
evasion and other leakages, the GMC is in the red, said Chandar. As
against the establishment cost of about Rs 24 crore per annum, the
revenue from the holding tax and other sources were a meagre Rs 7 crore
per annum leaving the big gap of Rs 17 crore between income and
expenditure. He was trying to double the corporation’s tax revenue from
the existing Rs 7 crore to Rs 14 crore, he said.
