The Chennai Corporation is planning to crackdown on officials for failing to collect property tax from the traders in Koyambedu market.

The City Corporation said that only 472 traders owning shops at the wholesale market were paying property taxes after the Chennai Metropolitan Development Authority (CMDA) handed over the shops to the traders.

The Mayor said that after CMDA handed over the shops to the traders, property taxes were calculated and an order was issued to 2,098 of the 3,194 shopkeepers. But only 472 traders paid the tax properly – not a penny was forthcoming from other shopkeepers.

But the failure lies with the Chennai Corporation for not assessing how much property tax the 1,096 shops have to pay, said Mayor Saidai Duraisamy during a Corporation Council meeting.

“As they have failed to assess the amount of property tax to be paid by the trader, an enquiry is being conducted in the department to ascertain why no effort has been taken to collect the property tax,” he said.

The Mayor said action would be initiated against the errant officials. “We are conducting an inquiry into the matter. Based on it, action will be taken against the errant officials,” he added.

He also said that the civic body is working towards retrieving the outstanding property tax amount.

“We are also planning to initiate legal action to retrieve the property tax,” said the Mayor while adding that there was no property tax waiver or reduction for commercial buildings located in the Corporation area.

The Mayor also said that he would initiate action against traders who were subletting their premises. “We will be revoking their licences and the shop will be locked and sealed,” he said.

The Koyambedu market is also plagued by other problems – some shopkeepers have their office as well as cold storage inside the shops.

Interestingly, as per CMDA rules, it is illegal to have cold storage within an eight-km radius of a government-owned cold storage. “But nearly 40 to 50 cold storage are illegally functioning in the A and H block,” said an official on condition of anonymity.