Indian Express 28.05.2010
After octroi, civic body looks to pvt agencies for property tax collection
Express News Service Tags : corporation, property tax Posted: Fri May 28 2010, 00:46 hrs
Pune: Even as the civic administration proposal to rope in private agencies in octroi collection is yet to get the nod from its standing committee, the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is now planning to involve private agencies in recovery of pending property tax dues.“There has been a discussion on involving private agencies to carry out certain responsibilities of the department, but no decision has been taken so far,” said Vilas Kanade, PMC Tax Assessment and Collection officer.
He said the number of properties in the civic jurisdiction have been on the rise over the last few years and there have been complaints from corporators that not all new properties are being assessed by the civic staff on time and the civic body stands to lose revenue due to it. The assessment responsibility can be carried out only through civic staff and not by private agencies, Kanade said the only possibility is to take the service of private agency in recovery of pending dues.
The civic body issues warrants to defaulters but there are many that fail to respond and private agencies can be allotted areas and asked to visit all the properties with pending tax dues for collection, he added.
Meanwhile, the civic administration’s initiative to encourage citizens to pay property tax by May-end and get 10 per cent rebate has yielded good response. The civic body managed to collect revenue of Rs 56 crore in April and is going to cross Rs 100 crore collection by the month end.
The civic administration also gives rebate to properties that takes environment-friendly initiatives like rainwater harvesting, solar energy and so on.
