E-Paper
Ludhiana MC turns blind eye to 1.25 lakh tax, user charge defaulters
As per the GIS survey conducted through Punjab Remote Sensing Centre around five years ago, there were around 4.35 lakh properties in Ludhiana
At a time when the fund-starved Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) is tightening noose around tax defaulters, the civic body has turned a blind eye towards around 90,000 property tax defaulters and 35,000 water-sewer user charges defaulters.
They have existed in the records of MC for years, but still no action has been taken against them so far.
As per the GIS survey conducted through Punjab Remote Sensing Centre around five years ago, there were around 4.35 lakh properties in the city. But, as per the MC record, only 3.45 lakh property owners file their dues while the remaining ones have been evading the tax.
Similarly, MC issues water-sewer bills to only 1.4 lakh properties, while around 2.6 lakh properties are under exempted category. So, at least 35,000 property owners also do not pay the water-sewer charges.
The property tax has not been paid by these defaulters since 2013-14, when the tax was introduced by the government, while it is anticipated that the water-sewer user charges defaulters have not cleared their dues for decades.
Officials said that 4.35 lakh properties also include plots. But property tax was levied on plots in 2013-14 and the owners have to clear the dues for that year.
One of the MC officials, requesting anonymity, said the survey was conducted five years ago and now the number of properties has further increased as various illegal colonies have also sprung up, especially on the outskirts of the city.
“Leaving apart the plots, there are thousands of properties in the city, for which tax is not paid by their owners. MC officials fail to act either due to political interference or because they are hand-in-gloves with the defaulters. Also, there are many property owners who file returns under wrong categories to evade tax. For example, owners of commercial buildings or factories file the property tax return under the head of residential properties,” said the official.
He further stated that MC has caught over 11,000 illegal water-sewer connections in just 15 days after a survey was ordered in outer parts of the city in November last year.
The survey was ordered after the local bodies department notified the one-time settlement (OTS) policy for getting the illegal water-sewer connections regularised at nominal rates.
What does civic body say
MC superintendent (headquarters), property tax wing, Vivek Verma said the civic body is working to catch the defaulters, who have failed to pay their dues in the past. “Lists have already been prepared, highlighting the difference in the number of properties and the returns filed by residents. The staff deputed at all the four zones of MC have been directed to conduct a survey in their respective areas and recover the dues, including penalty and tax from the defaulters,” he added.
However, despite repeated attempts, comments of mayor Balkar Sandhu could not be elicited. Facing financial constraints, Sandhu had earlier directed the officials to expedite recovery from defaulters.
