At Rs 138 crore, Ludhiana civic body records highest ever property tax collection

Tribune News Service

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, April 2

In a record of sorts, the municipal corporation (MC) here has collected a sum of Rs 138 crore as property tax in the previous fiscal 2023-24, which is the highest collection so far, officials have said.

However, over 25,000 property owners have not yet paid their dues of more than Rs 6.12 crore for the last financial year, officials said.

With this, the total number of property tax defaulters in Ludhiana has grown to over 92,000 and the arrears have swelled to more than Rs 14.71 crore.

4.24 lakh properties

There are 4,23,906 properties in the municipal limits, which are assessed to pay the property tax. The MC had been sending reminders to owners of the left-out 25,075-odd properties through public notices and personal messages on their registered cellphone numbers to pay the pending tax before March 31, but they were yet to clear their dues.

Face music for tax evasion

Owners, who have not yet deposited property tax or other levies, should do so immediately as they have failed to avail the penalty and interest waiver offered till March 31. The habitual defaulters would be dealt with sternly. Besides imposing penalty and interest, proceedings to attach properties as per the provisions of the law would also be initiated. — Sandeep Rishi, MC Commissioner

As the previous fiscal ended on March 31, the civic body has launched a special drive to recover arrears from defaulters, who have not cleared their dues despite issuance of repeated notices.

Besides levying penalty and interest, the MC is also mooting a plan to attach properties of major defaulters.

Sharing details, MC Commissioner Sandeep Rishi, told The Tribune, here on Tuesday that the property tax collections had touched a record high last fiscal and crossed the Rs 137.5-crore mark for the first time in Ludhiana.

“An amount of Rs 15.05 crore, accounting for 12.3 per cent more than Rs 122.45 crore tax receipts of 2022-23, and Rs 7.5 crore, which is 5.8 per cent up and above the estimated target of Rs 130 crore for the 2023-24 annual Budget have been collected,” he said.

Rishi said the civic body had recorded the highest-ever receipts during the previous financial year since the imposition of the property tax in 2013, with over 3.98 lakh owners paying their dues. He said over 25,000 assesses still owed the MC over Rs 6.12 crore for 2023-24 fiscal.

Divulging the year-wise property tax receipts, Rishi said Rs 137.5 crore property tax was collected in 2023-24, Rs 122.45 in 2022-23, Rs 92.84 crore in 2021-22, Rs 96.68 crore in 2020-21, Rs 84.25 crore in 2019-20, Rs 78.24 crore in 2018-19, Rs 70.4 crore in 2017-18, Rs 66.05 crore in 2016-17, Rs 69.44 crore in 2015-16, Rs 52.94 crore in 2014-15 and Rs 74.79 crore during the 2013-14 fiscal.

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