Civic body collects Rs 125 crore property tax, Rs 72 cr arrears due

The Municipal Corporation (MC) has collected Rs 125 crore property tax during the first three quarters of the 2024-25 fiscal, which was over 62 per cent of the target to earn Rs 200-crore revenue from the levy, officials have confirmed.

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Following the failure of defaulters to clear their dues, the civic body has launched a special drive to recover the arrears from those, who had not cleared their dues despite repeated notices and reminders.

Besides levying penalty and interest, the MC will also attach and seal properties of major defaulters in case they fail to pay the arrears without any further delay.

Taking serious note of the failure of the defaulters in paying the arrears, MC Commissioner Aaditya Dachalwal has ordered recovery and enforcement officials to speed up the recovery. He has also warned the defaulters of strict action, which can also include attachment/ sealing of properties and penal proceedings.

Dachalwal told The Tribune here on Tuesday that the civic body has received a sum of Rs 124.83 crore on account of property tax through 3,71,153 property returns filed from April 1 last to January 2. “It was 62.42 per cent of the amended budgetary provision of Rs 200 crore property tax collection for the current financial year,” he said.

He said as compared to this fiscal’s first three-quarter progress, the MC had collected Rs 121.75-crore property tax between April 1, 2023, and January 2, 2024. “It was Rs 3.08 crore less collection, accounting for 2.53 per cent less revenue than property tax collected during the corresponding period this fiscal,” the MC chief revealed.

With this, the MC has created a record of sorts by collecting a sum of almost Rs 125 crore during the current fiscal’s first three quarters, which was the highest-ever collection during the corresponding period since 2013-14 when the levy was imposed in Ludhiana.

The MC chief said the civic body has recorded highest-ever receipts during the current financial year’s first three quarters since the imposition of the levy in 2013, with over 3.71 lakh property owners paying the levy so far, which was over 79 per cent of the total 4,68,141 properties assessed across four zones in the MC limits.

According to the year-wise property tax receipts, the MC had collected property tax amounting to Rs 138.03 crore in 2023-24, Rs 122.45 in 2022-23, Rs 92.84 crore in 2021-22, Rs 97.15 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 had been collected from property tax head during the financial year 2013-14.

Pertinently, the MC had collected the revenue of Rs 715.21 crore from different heads during the financial year 2023-24, which was, however, almost 9 per cent more than Rs 658.08 crore revenue receipts recorded in 2022-23. However, the last fiscal’s total revenue was over 18 per cent less than Rs 872.84 crore collection generated in 2021-22 and over 6 per cent less than Rs 764.19 crore total income logged in 2020-21.

Moreover, the overall revenue receipts of 2023-24 had fallen a whopping 23 per cent short of the revised estimates of Rs 927 crore fixed in the Budget for the previous financial year. It was due to a shortfall in the collections from five of the total 13 revenue heads in Ludhiana, spread over 169 sq km area with an estimated population of 20 lakh.

4.68-L properties

A total of 4,68,141 properties falling in the municipal limits are assessed to pay property tax. The MC had been sending reminders to owners of the defaulter property owners through public notices and personal messages on their registered mobile numbers to pay the levy.

What helped

A sustained campaign to collect taxes, motivating residents to pay levies, facilitating the collections through online platforms, keeping collection centres open even during public holidays and last but not the least, issuing stern warning to attach properties and initiate legal proceedings against defaulters had helped the civic body to achieve the record collections under property tax and other heads in the current financial year 2024-25.