Payday for PCMC as civic body takes action against property defaulters

The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has started on Wednesday to take action against owners who have failed to register extended properties with civic

The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has started on Wednesday to take action against owners who have failed to register extended properties with civic authorities.

HT Image

According to a survey conducted by PCMC earlier this year of 20,000 properties with city limits, 7,250 have been found unregistered. As per rule, PCMC will collect property tax from these owners.

Shravan Hardikar, PCMC commissioner said, “Property tax is one of the major sources of revenue for the civic body. Property registration defaulters will have to pay PCMC huge sums of money as a penalty. We have started a survey of properties and will intensify in future of unregistered properties. So people should start registering their properties as early as possible or face action.”

The civic officials hoped that PCMC will earn large sums of revenue from these property defaulters. Before the assembly polls in September, the PCMC commissioner instructed the property tax department about the drive against unregistered property tax. Accordingly, 16 squads were deployed entire city and at the beginning, only commercial establishments who had extended their property or sheds were installed will face action. There were hotels, malls and marriage halls were identified in the survey. PCMC had issued notices to the owners and if they will not pay property tax on time the properties will be seized.

The property tax department official said that the people never registered the extended constructions of existing properties. “They have to inform the civic body of any changes in the existing establishment because they pay property tax on the area of construction. Sometimes the shed was constructed and used for commercial purposes. So PCMC loses the property tax in such cases. The owners have to get official permission and registered the property change before making any changes. The properties were increasing in PCMC but revenue was not increasing as compare to it. There were several complaints received from citizens about the increasing menace of unregistered properties,” said the official on the condition of anonymity.

Hardikar added that PCMC intensified drive on the backdrop of the slow down effect to increase the revenue of the corporation.