Deccan Herald 23.10.2013
Palike locks up shops over tax default
Continuing their drive against property tax
defaulters, the chairperson and members of BBMP’s standing committee on
taxation and finance locked up a few shops in the Kids Kemp building on
Kempegowda Road for not paying tax arrears of about Rs five crore.
The
action was met with serious resistance from the traders who had a
verbal duel with the standing committee chairperson Dr Shivaprasad and
other members. Their contention was that they were only tenants and the
owners were some others.
They said they should not be punished
for the shopowners’ fault. The taxation and finance committee members
did not buy the argument.
Prasad said the traders owe a tax of Rs 2.47 crore and
a penalty of Rs 2.53 crore. He said, “We are empowered under the
Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act to attach the property, lock it up
and seize the immovable properties.”
He directed the BBMP joint
commissioner of East Zone to disconnect water and electricity supply to
shops defaulting property tax. The committee members also served notice
on Mantri Developers for encroaching on the footpath and other utilities
for its Mantri Mall.
Jan 30 deadline
Mayor
B S Satyanarayana on Tuesday set another deadline of January 30 for the
CNR Rao Junction underpass, which has already missed many deadlines.
During
the inspection, Satyanarayana took the contractor to task for not
conforming to the timeline. He said the underpass should be ready before
the Metro Rail Reach-3 is completed. He also pulled up the BMRCL and
BBMP officials for the poor state of a park near the soap factory
junction. The boundary wall of the park was demolished by BMRCL to build
its rail infrastructure. After the boundary wall was demolished, people
started using the park as a parking lot.
