LUDHIANA: To recover long pending dues from defaulters of property
tax of previous years, civic officials are going to serve them notices. The notices are to be served in areas falling under Zone D by the end of this month, and people who had paid returns in 2013-14, but did not come forward to pay tax in the next financial years will be targeted. Apart from this, defaulters of water supply and sewerage dues will be taken up after the rainy season, because most officials have been appointed on duty for drainage of rainwater.
As per MC records, in zone D, there are 29,174 defaulters from whom MC has to recover Rs7.39 crore since 2014-15. Despite sending recovery notices to these defaulters, officials could not recover the pending amount. So now, officials have been asked to cross-check from previous records and send notices to fresh defaulters, instead of catching hold of those who have already paid the tax.
The sources revealed that recently, Local Bodies minister Navjot Sidhu had also issued a letter to MC officials for first verifying from their records whether a person is actually a defaulter, and only then should they serve him/her a notice. Officials claimed they had now started taking certificates from field inspectors to ensure they had served notices only to defaulters.
Meanwhile, MC commissioner KP Brar who held a meeting of staff deputed in Zone D (including posh areas of the city) on Tuesday has asked them to ensure delivery of notices to these defaulters by July 31, so that pending dues can be cleared. She has also asked officials to update their records as well, once they recover dues from the defaulters, for future use.
However, officials of Operation and Maintenance cell have also been asked to bring the recovery of pending dues from Zone D. There are over 50,000 defaulters only in this zone, and MC has to recover over Rs1 crore from them since October 2017. But due to rainy season, officials have been asked to be prepared for the recovery, and start it as soon as the monsoon ends. However, they will have to wind up the ongoing survey for submersible pumps till then. MC officials have identified around 12,000 illegal submersible pumps, and they have also recovered Rs5.5 crore from defaulters.
Also, house tax recovery was replaced with property tax in 2013, but officials have not been able to recover pending amounts from defaulters so far. In Zone D itself, there are 2,079 units from where house tax is yet to be recovered. Brar said she had asked officials to be on their toes for achieving recovery targets and serving notices to defaulters. She said she would hold a meeting with officials of other zones on Wednesday, and review the recoveries every week.
ZONE D DEFAULT AMOUNT
Year --- Defaulters ---- Amount
2014-15 --- 11916 --- Rs2.35 crore
2015-16 ------ 4177--- Rs83 lakh
2016-17---- 6008 ---- Rs2.27 crore
2017-18 --- 7073 --- Rs1.93 crore
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