Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar: The city has witnessed expansion in phases in the last many decades. However, there are tens of thousands of properties that are out of the property tax ambit. Although surveys have been conducted many times in the past, nothing substantial has resulted. Now, the Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) has slightly changed its method and implemented a new approach to tax assessment. To achieve the desired goal, the corporation has appointed 35 junior engineers on a contractual basis for tax assessment, and they have already started surveying and assessing taxes. It is now certain that there is no escape for untaxed property owners.
New houses are being rapidly constructed on all four sides of the city. Most of these houses are deprived of building permission from the CSMC. For years, these properties are not in the ambit of tax. The city has roughly over three lakh registered properties and more than a lakh are unregistered properties due to which the CSMC is losing revenue.
Moreover, the property-holders whose properties are taxed do not pay taxes regularly every year. Hence the amount of arrears is increasing annually. Zone-wise teams have been established to collect taxes. It is estimated that 60,000 to 70,000 properties are untaxed in the city.
Earlier, the CSMC under a GIS survey, inspected 13,000 properties and discovered 369 new properties. The process of tax assessment and collection from the property owners is underway. Recently, 40 contractual engineers from the technical section were laid off by the CSMC. However, to conduct property surveys, 35 of these engineers have been rehired. These engineers are surveying properties in each zone office and assessing taxes accordingly.
Improved Recovery Rate
The municipal corporation has set a target of collecting Rs 500 crore in property tax this year. In the last financial year, Rs 157 crore was collected. Due to daily follow-ups for tax collection, Rs 72 crore has been collected in just four months. Every day, Rs 50 to Rs 60 lakh in the form of taxes are being collected. Zone-wise teams have been given collection targets, and they are working towards achieving these targets.