The Hindu 17.07.2013
BPS: violators need to cough up 25 p.c. more tax
Brace up! The Vijayawada Municipal Corporation is all
set to collect an additional 25 per cent of the property tax from
applicants who failed to regularise their buildings under the Building
Penalisation Scheme (BPS).
The corporation is set to
collect an additional 200 per cent of the property tax if the building
has been constructed in deviation from the plan sanctioned and the owner
had not applied for regulation under the scheme.
Nearly
3,000 applications submitted under the scheme were rejected for want of
documents and plans, etc. Of this, 1,340 applicants have not paid total
penalty amount, while 1,513 have not submitted the requisite documents.
About
94 applicants have no fire equipment, and 52 do not have layout
regulation. The town planning has already sent data of 500 applications
to the revenue wing for levying additional 25 per cent.
The
rejection of 3,000 applications will take the total to 3,500. The VMC
is likely to receive Rs. 15 crore per annum through additional tax,
according to City Planner Chakrapani.
The government
had, earlier, issued orders directing local bodies to either collect 25
per cent of tax additionally or demolish the buildings where deviations
and violations were noticed.
The VMC officials,
apprehensive that demolition would invite uproar and unrest from the
public, confined themselves to levying the penalty.
Falls short of estimates
The
corporation sold nearly 18,400 applications, while it printed 19,000.
The VMC could dispose of only 65 per cent of the applications received
under the scheme.
