Many govt bodies on list of property tax defaulters: NMC

Nagpur: The cash-strapped Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) is going slow on auctioning properties of 1.48 lakh defaulters, who owe the civic body over Rs200 crore.

Municipal commissioner Ashwin Mudgal admitted that the NMC is going slow against property tax defaulters, but justified the delay citing the lengthy process to auction properties. He said the NMC has identified 150 properties of defaulters and the process to auction them is in final stages.

On Tuesday, Mudgal and additional municipal commissioner Ravindra Kumbhare convened a review meeting on property tax recovery, which was attended by officials of the property tax department and assistant municipal commissioners.

To a query, the civic chief admitted that many government organisations are on the list of defaulters and claimed that the NMC is following up with them for recovery of property tax. He also clarified that the civic chief has the power to waive penal interest up to 90% on property tax of defaulters.

Sources in the property tax department too confirmed poor recovery from defaulters. So far, of the 10 zones, only Hanuman Nagar zone has calculated offset value of 16 property owners who have defaulted property tax to the tune of Rs 12,12,540. "Now, the NMC will advertise offset value of the properties of these defaulters to recover the outstanding amount," sources said.

Sources blamed the slow progress in even completing the process of attaching and auctioning properties of tax defaulters due to apathetic attitude of the zones' assistant commissioners.

Citing an example, sources said around 33,664 property owners have defaulted property tax in Ashi Nagar zone. But the zone officials attached only 69 properties. Similar is the situation in other zones. In all, the zones have so far attached only 511 properties.

Senior corporator Abha Pande blamed the ruling party for such a huge outstanding amount. "The BJP-ruled NMC has not been able to effectively collect property tax, and even after two amnesty schemes, over 1.98 lakh property owners continue to owe Rs248.98 crore," she said.

According to Pande, unless the civic body acts tough against defaulters, NMC's financial condition will never improve. Even important proposals like laying sewer lines are being withheld citing fund crisis, she added.