The Times of India            13.12.2013

Kolhapur Municipal Corporation starts property review to track tax evaders

KOLHAPUR: Kolhapur Municipal Corporation has launched a drive to scrutinize properties and the corresponding taxes that the respective owners have to pay.

The drive will also assess the unauthorized constructions in the city.

The decision was taken following a shabby performance by the property tax department, which raked in only Rs 12 crore as against the target of Rs 41 crore for the current financial year.

Property tax superintendent Dilip Koli said, "We have appointed an agency to conduct the survey of the properties in the city. We have asked the agency to also verify the earlier receipts of the property tax and compare those with that of the size of the property concerned. Through the drive we can track the tax evaders and impose fines on their owners."

"These are, however, primary estimates and we think that there are even more such properties. The survey will help us find both the tax evaders and the properties that have come up during the last couple of years. The unauthorized constructions in the city will be assessed based on the survey results and a policy regarding regularization of these properties can be formulated then," Koli said.

The KMC is also going to start the mapping of the properties by using the Geographic Information System (GIS). "We have allotted the work of mapping to a Thane-based company. We had conducted a couple of meetings about the mapping. However, we are yet to be satisfied with the demonstration presented by the company. It has pledged to conduct a sample survey soon," he added.

According to the system, every property will get a unique identity number. Once the number is fed into the system, all surveyed information such as the corresponding house number, detailed address and owner's name, details like electricity and water connection numbers, as well as data like built-up and carpet areas, number of floors, usage and year of construction will be available to assess the property tax. According to its plan, the KMC was scheduled to map properties from the C ward in the first phase, to be rolled out to other places later.

KMC systems manager Nazia Mullani had earlier said the GIS mapping system not only covers properties, but also has data related to trees, temporary structures and municipal as well as other service utilities.

The ssyetm also helps in better urban planning and effective implementation of developmental schemes by providing exact measurements, size and location of buildings.

The state government had earlier this year the civic body to stop civic services like water supply, drainage facilities and electricity to all illegal and dilapidated structures in the city ahead of the monsoon.It had also asked the civic body to publish details of builders engaged in illegal construction and initiate criminal action against them at the earliest.