More than 50 prime properties in five different civic zones of Amritsar are likely to face sealing on Friday if they fail to clear their property tax dues with specially constituted teams for this purpose by the Amritsar municipal corporation (MC).
The decision to expedite revenue collection from various taxes to ace the state-level ‘Smart City’ test was taken by the MC authorities at a meeting held on Thursday, following which the MC constituted five teams to scour the entire city to collect revenue from the defaulters or seal their premises. The drive will be overseen by additional commissioner Jasbir Singh.
Last fiscal, the MC could manage to collect little over Rs 12 crore against the target of Rs 50 crore despite a relaxation offered to the payers.
MC officials said the revenue collection from property tax was lagged behind due to delay in finalising policies governing the tax.
To ace the Smart City test, it is mandatory for the MC to enhance its revenue collection, besides meeting other prerequisites. Hence, the MC intends to embark on the sealing drive from Friday onwards.
Giving detail, municipal commissioner Pradeep Sabharwal said notices had been issued to as many as 800 property tax defaulters a month ago to clear their dues. “As the 30-day notice period is over, the team members will visit the defaulters from Friday to collect dues, failing which their properties will be sealed,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Giving detail, municipal commissioner Pradeep Sabharwal said notices had been issued to as many as 800 property tax defaulters a month ago to clear their dues. “As the 30-day notice period is over, the team members will visit the defaulters from Friday to collect dues, failing which their properties will be sealed,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}He added that of 800, a majority of defaulters were prime properties who had not cleared their dues. “We are mainly targeting prime properties which owe the MC massive dues,” Sabharwal said.
He said 800 properties had been divided into batches of 50 each, with each official of the five-member teams handling a minimum of 10 defaulters at a time.