The Times of India 17.09.2014
JMC resumes drive, seals 3 units in Civil Lines
JAIPUR:
The Jaipur Municipal Corporation’s (JMC) vigilance wing once again
carried out a massive drive and sealed three commercial units in Civil
Lines zone on Tuesday. The drive was against the defaulters who have not
paid the advertisement fees for hoardings.
Action was taken
against a gym and spa centre, Big Bazaar shopping market and an office
situated in Shine Towers. According to the officials, nearly Rs 20 lakh
were recovered from the defaulters.
Reportedly, the team had to
face mild protest from the gym owners, however, the drive was carried
out with local police assistance. The corporation recovered
approximately Rs 1.5 lakh from the gym owner. “Similarly, we recovered
around Rs 15.5 lakh from Shine Towers and Rs 3 lakh from Big Bazaar,”
said a JMC official.
Since past few days, JMC has become strict
in dealing with commercial establishments which have been evading
taxes. “We have carried out a successful drive against commercial units
which did not pay advertisement fees for hoardings and recovered
approximately Rs 15 crore. The money recovered can be used for
development of infrastructure in the city,” said a senior official.
According to JMC officials, tax evasion to the tune of Rs 800 crore by
the residents has added to JMC’s problems, which is already reeling
under financial crunch. The corporation has to collect UD and house tax
from nearly 5.22 lakh residents.
The official further said
that, “Maximum defaulters fall in the Civil Lines zone. From 31,709 tax
evaders, JMC has to recover Rs 223 crore as UD tax and Rs 39.36 crore as
house tax. And from Jaipur Vidyut Vitaran Nigam Limited, which is a
Rajasthan government body, JMC has to recover Rs 131 crore.”
JMC has passed a budget of Rs 1,128 crore for the financial year
2014-15. The recovery will help the corporation in carrying out the
development work successfully. In the budget, Rs 456 crore has been
proposed for development work in the city and a major thrust this year
is on the construction of roads, for which Rs 150 crore has been
allocated. For repairing of roads and drainage, an amount of Rs 100
crore has been sanctioned.
In 2013-14, JMC was able to achieve
only 54% of the estimated target. “Recovering taxes is the only possible
way to generate revenue,” added the official.
