Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation to upload property tax defaulters’ names on social networking sites | Mumbai news - Hindustan Times
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Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation to upload property tax defaulters’ names on social networking sites

Hindustan Times | By, Kalyan
Feb 24, 2019 12:59 AM IST

With property tax worth₹120-crore pending, KDMC sends notice to defaulters

If you have defaulted in paying property tax, don’t be surprised to see your name online.

As per the KDMC records, only Rs262-crore property tax has been collected this fiscal year.(HT File)
As per the KDMC records, only Rs262-crore property tax has been collected this fiscal year.(HT File)

In another way to make people pay property tax, Kalyan-Dombivli Municipal Corporation (KDMC) will start uploading defaulters’ names on social networking sites from Monday.

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Standing committee chairperson Dipesh Mhatre forwarded this idea in the meeting earlier this week and he has decided to implement it from next week.

“Property tax is one of the major sources of income for the civic body. Many have defaulted for the past several years. They might pay if their names are uploaded online,” said Mhatre.

As per the KDMC records, only Rs262-crore property tax has been collected this fiscal year.

Last week when KDMC commissioner Govind Bodke presented the budget for 2019-20, he said the civic body is running in loss and the economy may collapse anytime. He also mentioned ways to earn more revenue.

Mhatre was not satisfied with measures Bodke wanted to introduce — giving KDMC plots on rent, recovering money spent on demolition work from property owners and implementing pay and park policy in the city.

“We have one month to collect the property tax. We will try to recover the Rs120 crore pending money. The commissioner’s measures cannot be implemented in such a short period of time,” added Mhatre.

Throughout the year, the civic body takes action against defaulters by sending them notices, sealing and sealing property and auctioning them.

However, these measures did not help the civic body meet its Rs350-crore target for property tax collection.

In 2018-19, the civic body had managed to collect Rs262-crore property tax.

As per KDMC officials, there are 12,620 property tax defaulters in Kalyan and Dombivli. Most of the defaulters are industrialists, big property owners and shopkeepers.

“We have started sending notices to all of them. We will start sealing property if the pending amount is not paid,” said a KDMC official, who did not wish to be named.

He said that the civic body cannot seal or seize without giving them a warning and this is time-consuming.

“The civic body is sometimes lenient towards collecting tax,” said the official.

In 2017-18, the civic body could collect Rs304 crore of the Rs350-crore target.

“If we fail to collect the pending amount, we will have no money left to pay contractors who are carrying out major works in the city. Also, we won’t be able to pay our employees,” said Mhatre.

The property tax collection in 2016-17 saw a remarkable increase as the civic body managed to collect Rs314 crore.

Every year, the civic body comes up with different ways to make residents pay the pending amount.

Earlier in 2017, the civic body had launched several unique measures to arm-twist people to pay tax.

Civic officials were asked to seal properties and seize them, dumped garbage into premises and disconnect water supply if defaulters do not pay.

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