Chandigarh MC takes over 30 taxi stands for fee default

Tribune News Service

Sandeep Rana

Chandigarh, September 27

In a major crackdown, the Municipal Corporation today took over 30 private taxi stands, the occupiers of which had failed to pay the ground rent dues for the past many years.

Besides, the civic body has received a whopping Rs 78 lakh in ground fee since it issued a public notice asking the taxi stand allottees to clear their dues a month ago. Of this, Rs 27 lakh was recovered today after the MC officials started taking over the taxi stands.

The MC officials said the drive continued till late night as they received orders to take action only today. The cash-starved MC is going to auction these taxi stands with an eye on earning revenue.

According to information, the monthly ground rent varied between Rs 5,000 and Rs 15,000 based on the area. Since the occupiers had not paid their dues for many years, the total amount pending was huge.

Many defaulters had been regularly paying the rent till the MC House increased the rates. A few occupiers had stopped paying the rent during Covid. A number of defaulters had moved court, but did not get any relief. There were a total of 59 defaulters.

Meanwhile, the corporation will also take up the issue of late fee to be charged from the defaulters in the coming House meeting. Some allottees have paid the ground rent but are yet to pay the late fee, contending that it should be 12 per cent, not 24 per cent.