The Times of India 11.03.2013
Govt yet to clear way for Rajarhat tax collection
KOLKATA: It has been nearly a year since the state urban development department first came up with a proposal for the New Town Kolkata Development Authority (NKDA) to start collecting property tax from the residents of Rajarhat New Town.
However, even as the township is developing and more and more people
are coming to live in the area, the state government is yet to implement
the proposal.
Senior Hidco officials said some legal
amendments need to be made for the NKDA to start collecting property tax
in the township and that the process has already started. However, they
could not give any time limit within which the amendments will come
into effect. “The proposal needs to be approved in the state cabinet for
the bill to get passed,” said an official.
At present, the
residents of Rajarhat do not pay property tax. The state urban
development department had earlier mooted the proposal in the state
cabinet that NKDA be entrusted with collecting it. However, the proposal
was deferred and the department was first asked to make some amendments
in the New Town Kolkata Development Act so that it can be authorized to
act like a municipality or corporation and hence, be able to collect
tax. Right now, New Town does not fall under any municipality or
corporation and NKDA acts as the local civic body.
However, the
new township is still lacking in basic civic services, complain
residents. Grievances include irregular cleaning of garbage, traffic
chaos due to unplanned car parking and those related to law-and-order
and water supply. “We are quite eager to pay the tax provided we get
these civic amenities,” said Samir Mitra, a resident of Greenwood Park
Housing in Action Area I.
In neighbouring Salt Lake, the Bidhannagar Municipality
has finally started collecting property tax based on the valuation done
in 2005. At the end of the last fiscal, the authorities had collected
around Rs 12 crore since resuming collection.
