Kadapa, February 07: It’s the wedding season. Band music in front of some one’s house means wedding bells ringing for some one, yes? No, not necessarily. It might be the municipal corporation paying visit to a tax defaulter’s house in style.
Civic authorities have come up with the idea of playing music before the tax defaulter’s house, to achieve 100 percent tax collection by the end of March.
As of now, none of the civic bodies in the district have managed to collect even 50 percent of the property taxes which are due from people, putting the financial position of the respective civic bodies in doldrums.
There are six municipalities and a municipal corporation in the district. Barring Badvel Municipality, all other civic bodies’ term has come to an end and are due for elections. At present, they are administrated by special officers. District collector Sasibushan Kumar himself is the special officer of Kadapa Municipal Corporation.
Proddatur has joint collector Nirmala, Pulivendula has OSD Krishnamohan Reddy, Jammalamadugu has RDO Venkataramana Reddy, Rayachoti has RDO Ranjit Basha, Rajampet has RDO Padmaja as special officers. Yet, there seems to be no progress in the recovery of dues pertaining to property taxes. With the World Bank taking recovery of dues as a parameter to sanction funds, the ministry of municipal administration and urban development directed all the civic bodies to achieve 100 percent tax collection by March 31.
With the deadline fast approaching, the district administration has decided to act tough. The defaulters will be reminded to pay taxes by sending a notice first. After that comes the band music and yet if there is no response, the defaulter will cease to have access to water, sanitation and other facilities.
For those who pay a deaf ear to all these notices, movable properties will be seized and if the defaulter fails to clear the dues by then, all assets will be seized.
Kadapa Municipal Corporation has to recover a tax of Rs 16.87 crore of which the government departments themselves have to pay Rs 6.95 crore. Though in the budget of the respective departments, allocations were made for tax payment, the funds were diverted for other purposes. Of the remaining Rs 10 crore, `3 crore has to come from the elite of the town. As of today, the corporation has been able to collect only 6.87 crore and all of it has come from the common folk.
The big wigs and the department have proved to be the major defaulters.
Municipal Corporation commissioner John Samson said they are striving hard to achieve 100 percent recovery by March 31 and have decided to adopt tough measures.
–Agencies