According to a senior Corporation official, 1193 defaulters owe them property tax arrears in the band of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh each, and 434 among them owe more than Rs 10 lakh to the civic body’s tax kitty. The accumulated arrears of the 434 defaulters alone is said to be around Rs 170 crore.

In the first phase, the civic body has started putting up posters at the premises of 434 ‘premium’ defaulters saying they have property tax arrears to them and in the second phase, premises of defaulters falling in the band of Rs 5 lakh to Rs 10 lakh would also be pasted with such arrears notices.

Of the Rs 568-crore property tax arrears in the city, zones in North Chennai account for around Rs 125 crore, while the zone in central and south Chennai account for remaining Rs 443 crore.

According to civic body sources, top defaulters’ list include several high profile hotels in the city.

COMMITTEE TO STUDY CIVIC EMPLOYEES’ GRIEVANCES: In the wake of resentments among the staff over surrendering of several posts in the Chennai Corporation under the pretext of introducing administrative reforms, Mayor M Subramanian on Monday announced the constitution of a committee of officials and trade union representatives to settle the issue amicably.

Express had carried a news item on the plight of the civic body employees in the wake of reported surrendering of several posts in July. The news item had created a ripple among the staff and the anger led to the civic body to postpone their decision of surrendering posts for few more weeks.

The Mayor said that the committee would submit a detailed report on administrative reforms by September- end.

During the meeting, he disclosed that more than 5,300 posts like cinema operator, gollah, blacksmith had been lying vacant for the past 10 years and that if those unfilled posts were surrendered, the civic body might get additional and other important postings in different departments.

Sources said that the Public Works Department that manages Velachery Lake and the Fisheries Department which controls Chetpet Lake, have agreed, in principle, to hand the water bodies over to the civic body. Tenders have already been floated with regard to the beautification work of these lakes.

“Once the lakes are officially handed over to us, they would be desilted to make them ready for fun boating facilities there,” a senior Corporation official told Express.

Besides landscaping along the lake’s boundaries, walkways made of imported stones would also be built, the official said.

The Velachery Lake, which originally covered an area of 265.48 acres, has shrunk to 47 acres now due to encroachment and also due to government allotments to the State’s housing and alum clearance boards. Till a decade ago, it had served as a major source of drinking water for Velachery residents. Now it is polluted by industrial waste and unchecked sewer inflow. The Chetpet Lake covers 14 acres and has a small island with a lone tree making it perfect for boat rides.