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.