Hyderabad, April 04: Prompt payment of property tax to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) might just make you rich. Surprised? Well, believe it or not, GHMC officials are offering lakhs of rupees through a lucky draw for denizens who pay their taxes on time.
With GHMC officials revealing that the initiative bringing good results in collection of property taxes, they have decided to double the prize amount to tax payers from Rs.10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. S Hari Krishna, additional commissioner, Finance and Revenue, GHMC told Express that measures were being taken to increase the total amount for the Lucky Draw Cash Prize started in 2004, to encourage and create awareness among tax payers. “The total amount for the lucky draw has been doubled from Rs10 lakh to Rs 20 lakh. State Bank of Hyderabad is assisting the scheme financially ever since the unique scheme was initiated,’’ he added.
The lucky draw for tax payers was introduced by the GHMC to encourage residents to pay taxes in time and over the years, cash amounts have increased from Rs 5 lakh to Rs 20 lakh now. SBH officials have also consented to increase the prize amount further next year, to motivate tax payers to pay arrears on time, thus enabling GHMC to garner revenue towards infrastructure development in the twin cities.
Meanwhile, at least 90 per cent collections were fulfilled during 2010-2011.
GHMC officials said they had reached their target of collecting more than Rs 580 crore out of Rs 700 crore property taxes, including domestic and industrial sectors. “Facing various legal issues pertaining to property tax collections, we almost reached our target in collecting Rs 580 crore as of now,’’ Hari Krishna said. He said they had selected as many as 811 property tax payers, who promptly paid taxes through the lucky draw and put up the list on GHMC’s official website. All selected tax payers would receive their prizes in a week.
–Agencies