The Times of India 13.12.2011
Civic body to home in on new properties to boost revenue
Municipal Corporation (IMC) issued fresh directives for achieving revenue target. Now, the civic body
is learnt to have directed officials to zero in on new properties on
the basis of voter list. They are given a target to open 50,000 new
property tax accounts, sources said.
From the existing 3.8 lakh property tax account holders, only 1.5 lakh pay their tax on time. The civic body has pending tax of Rs 200 crore. Of this, big defaulters form 50%.
Mayor Krishnamurari Moghe directed the officials to find out about new
properties and open their accounts. The orders came at the IMC
review meeting. Seven senior corporation officials have been made
in-charge of two zones each. They have been asked to hold daily meeting,
review action and inspect the properties in their respective areas.
“Property tax account number has not gone up in proportion to the city
limits expansion. In such a situation, we have directed to find out new
properties,” said Moghe, adding that civic body expects number of
properties to be around 5 lakh, still leaving a gap of 1.5 lakh property
tax accounts.
The civic body has set a target of one third by
end of the financial year. “We have set a revenue target of Rs 250 crore
and we are taking all possible measures to meet the target,” said
Moghe. Efforts are showing results as the civic body has come across one
lakh illegal water connections and crores of rupees have been recovered
so far.
However, barring one big defaulter–Premshukh
Talkies–the IMC officials have not taken action against big defaulters.
The talkies owed the civic body Rs 18 lakh as property tax. The IMC had
some days ago given a daily target of Rs 10 lakh property tax recovery.
However, IMC officials claimed that recovery work was continuing at a
great pace and Rs 10 crore was recovered till date. “We have sent
notices to big defaulters and if they fail to pay on time, the civic
body will take them to court,” said an official, adding that they are
doing everything possible to meet the set revenue target.
From
the existing 3.8 lakh property tax account holders, only 1.5 lakh pay
their tax on time. IMC has pending tax of Rs 200 cr. Of this, big
defaulters form 50%. Mayor has directed the officials to find out about
new properties.