Indian Express 29.11.2010
Before enforcing new tax system, BMC must measure 60,000 slum properties
sharvaripatwa Tags : corporation, new tax system Posted: Mon Nov 29 2010, 06:18 hrs
Mumbai: In its effort to meet the deadline for introducing a capital value-based property tax system, the BMC is struggling with a mammoth task: measuring the precise area of each of 60,000-odd slum properties.“It is a big challenge for the department but we are trying our best to implement the new system before March 2011,” said Ravikant B Dalvi, deputy asssessor & collector. “A major challenge is collecting the data for the area of slum properties”, a necessity. Most such properties measure under 500 sq ft and are therefore unlikely to see any significant change in property tax, but their area still needs to be accounted for.
The BMC has calculated the area for 2.35 lakh of the city’s 3.35 lakh properties. “Calculating the area for remaining 1 lakh is proving a big challenge,” said an official, citing shortage of staff. A senior official said they have repeatedly requested for additional staff. “We have senior staff but not enough at base level to collect the data for calculating the area.”
Of the 1 lakh properties that remain, about 60-65 per cent are in slums. “So far, no government agency has any measurements for their areas, although other records are available,” he said. Another roadblock is the absence of public suggestions and objections on the new system. Owing to the poor response, the deadline has been extended. “As of now about 15 responses have been received. We at least 1 lakh complaints when we send the revised bills,” said the official.
The new system will be calculate tax from a property’s market value with weightage given to factors such as area, a building’s age, land usage and type of construction. The present system computes tax on the basis of a property’s notional rent-earning capacity.
