Patiala MC fails to recover dues from PSPCL in 4 years

Ravneet Singh

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Patiala, September 25

Running low on funds to pay salaries to its employees, the Patiala Municipal Corporation(MC) has failed to recover municipal tax levied on consumption, use or sale of electricity from Punjab State Power Corporation Limited (PSPCL) in the last four years. Till date, the corporation has managed to recover merely Rs 1.44 crore. The last such receipt was generated in July 2018.

In fact, the MC completely lacks any information regarding the pending amount. The tax amount is collected by PSPCL from consumers on the basis of consumption of electricity. It is then supposed to be submitted to the corporation. As per the MC’s response to an RTI application, it wrote to the PSPCL demanding details of municipal tax collected by the power department, but in vain.

The MC recovered Rs 1.44 crore from the PSPCL in five installments ranging from Rs 47,564 to Rs 58,10,700 in first nine months (till August 2018) after the state government sanctioned levy of municipal tax at the rate of 2 per cent on use and sale of electricity in November 2017.

Municipal Joint Commissioner Jiwanjot Kaur said the MC would discuss the matter with the Corporation Commissioner and requisite steps would be initiated.