The Chennai Corporation is planning to crackdown on officials for
failing to collect property tax from the traders in Koyambedu market.

The
City Corporation said that only 472 traders owning shops at the
wholesale market were paying property taxes after the Chennai
Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) handed over the shops to the
traders.

The Mayor said that after CMDA handed over the shops to
the traders, property taxes were calculated and an order was issued to
2,098 of the 3,194 shopkeepers. But only 472 traders paid the tax
properly – not a penny was forthcoming from other shopkeepers.

But
the failure lies with the Chennai Corporation for not assessing how
much property tax the 1,096 shops have to pay, said Mayor Saidai
Duraisamy during a Corporation Council meeting.

“As they have
failed to assess the amount of property tax to be paid by the trader, an
enquiry is being conducted in the department to ascertain why no effort
has been taken to collect the property tax,” he said.

The Mayor
said action would be initiated against the errant officials. “We are
conducting an inquiry into the matter. Based on it, action will be taken
against the errant officials,” he added.

He also said that the civic body is working towards retrieving the outstanding property tax amount.

“We
are also planning to initiate legal action to retrieve the property
tax,” said the Mayor while adding that there was no property tax waiver
or reduction for commercial buildings located in the Corporation area.

The
Mayor also said that he would initiate action against traders who were
subletting their premises. “We will be revoking their licences and the
shop will be locked and sealed,” he said.

The Koyambedu market is
also plagued by other problems – some shopkeepers have their office as
well as cold storage inside the shops.

Interestingly, as per CMDA
rules, it is illegal to have cold storage within an eight-km radius of a
government-owned cold storage. “But nearly 40 to 50 cold storage are
illegally functioning in the A and H block,” said an official on
condition of anonymity.