Nashik
Cracking down on the tax defaulters, the Municipal Commissioner has set December 31st as the deadline to achieve a 100% recovery target. So far Rs 111 crores have been recovered out of Rs 150 crores of the property tax dues. The Commissioner has ordered to recover 100 per cent by December 31.
The tax collection department is facing the challenge of collecting Rs 40 crore arrears in a total of forty days i.e. nine days of November and 31 days of December and hence a target of collecting Rs one crore arrears per day has been given.
Meanwhile, a lack of manpower in the tax recovery department is seen that it is affecting the recovery.
Property cess and water cess are major sources of municipal income. But due to the election work, there was a delay in the distribution of bills and their collection from the defaulters.
As a result of this, the arrears figure had reached Rs 150 crores. The tax collection department finally released the list of defaulters on the website as the defaulters did not respond to the repeated warnings.
In the meantime, from October 17, a Dhol Bajao drive was undertaken outside the establishments, offices and houses of citizens who owed more than Rs one lakh to NMC.
During the drive, In the first five days, almost four crores of arrears were recovered. The suspended campaign was resumed after Diwali. Till now Rs 10 crores of dues have been recovered from the defaulters. The commissioner held a meeting of all divisional heads last week and has set a target of 100 per cent recovery by the end of December.
He also warned the heads of the concerned divisions if no initiative is taken. Meanwhile, the Rs 111 crore recovery out of Rs 150 crore is almost complete. The tax collection department still faces a big challenge to recover Rs 39 crore arrears.
