Faridabad civic body registers 44 per cent rise in tax collection

Bijendra Ahlawat
Tribune News Service
Faridabad, April 14

Despite an increase of 44 per cent in tax collection, the Municipal Corporation (MC), Faridabad, is dissatisfied with the recovery. It has announced to launch a sealing drive against property tax defaulters of Rs 5 lakh or more.

A spokesperson for the civic body said that a decision to initiate action against the defaulting units was taken at a meeting held here on Thursday. The meeting was chaired by the Additional Commissioner, MC, Pradeep Kumar Godara. The officials concerned said that the MC had been able to collect Rs 104.45 crore in tax from all sources in 2018-19 (ending March 31).

It has been around 44 per cent higher than the total tax (Rs 72.3 crore) collected in 2017-18. This includes the property tax recovery of Rs 26.38 crore from the NIT zone, Rs 25.52 crore from the Old Faridabad zone and Rs 9.5 crore from the Ballabhgarh zone. However, expressing dissatisfaction with the overall performance, Godara said that the recovery target had been below 50 per cent. He added that with more concerted efforts more tax could have been collected.

Godara asked officials to concentrate more on the recovery of pending dues. He said the MC was still to recover several crores of rupees from a large number of defaulters, including several government departments. He added that all defaulting units, which owe Rs 5 lakh or more as property tax, would be sealed if they fail to clear the outstanding dues within the given time. The water and sewerage connections could also be disconnected to build pressure. Departments such as the BSNL, tourism, police, public health, Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation, etc, are among the defaulters.

Rs 104.45-cr recovered 

A decision to initiate action against the defaulting units was taken at a meeting held on Thursday. The meeting was chaired by the Additional Commissioner, MC, Pradeep Kumar Godara. The officials concerned told the meeting that the MC had been able to collect Rs 104.45 crore in tax from all sources in 2018-19 (ending March 31)