Officials of two defaulter government offices, Bachat Bhawan and sewerage board, have demanded more time from the Amritsar municipal corporation to clear their pending house tax dues. However, officials of the department said these establishments were likely to be sealed if their dues were not cleared at the earliest.
The Amritsar improvement trust too owes the MC a sizable sum as house tax.
According to sources, government officials met municipal commissioner Dharampal Gupta and sought more time to clear house tax payments. They said the sewerage board owed the MC Rs 17.38 lakh, Bachat Bhawan Rs 91,000 and the Amritsar improvement trust around Rs 15 lakh in terms of pending house tax payments.
Meanwhile, on Friday, house tax officials sealed six defaulters’ properties at Lawrence Road, GT Road and Chheharta and made recoveries to the tune of Rs 10.50 lakh. To quicken the pace of recoveries, officials of the house tax department have decided to focus their attention on liquor vends, 108 of which owe the MC house tax payments.
Sources said each of these wine shops owes the MC over Rs 1 lakh. House tax officials will release a fresh list of 150 defaulters. These defaulters are in addition to the 145 whose list was previously released by the MC for auctioning off their properties, which is yet to take place. House tax officials said the properties of these defaulters would be sealed and auctioned if they fail to clear the payments.
{{/usCountry}}Sources said each of these wine shops owes the MC over Rs 1 lakh. House tax officials will release a fresh list of 150 defaulters. These defaulters are in addition to the 145 whose list was previously released by the MC for auctioning off their properties, which is yet to take place. House tax officials said the properties of these defaulters would be sealed and auctioned if they fail to clear the payments.
{{/usCountry}}“The two government departments have been given time to clear these payments. We are constantly in touch with government officials manning these departments for the clearance of payments. We expect these payments to be cleared soon,” said Gupta.