MCD to survey all taxable properties

Failing to meet its annual property tax collection targets, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is now contemplating carrying out a physical survey of all such buildings to net tax defaulters.

Failing to meet its annual property tax collection targets, the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is now contemplating carrying out a physical survey of all such buildings to net tax defaulters.

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Measures like GIS mapping of properties, which has been launched on a pilot basis in some areas, cannot be carried out for the entire city and thus the MCD is planning a physical survey of all taxable buildings, sources said.

"Tenders inviting companies to carry out the survey would be floated soon and though a huge task that is the only way to check defaulters," they said.

According to officials in the property tax department, the corporation has been suffering huge losses ever since the implementation of the unit area method that is based on self-assessment and this survey will create a database of each property and the actual dues accruing to it.

The civic agency had recently set up a pilot project of GIS mapping in the Central zone through which a fresh database of the properties would be made that need to be covered under the tax net.

The agency had tied up with Hyderabad-based company CE-Infosys that specialises in GIS mapping and has signed a deal with the private firm at a cost of Rs 20 lakh.

The MCD fell short by Rs 700 crore in its target revenue and the property tax department alone accounts for nearly 60 per cent of the revenue collected by the corporation.