While the civic body had set a target of earning over Rs 5,000 crore in 2019-20, by December 2019, the BMC had collected property tax worth only Rs 1,387 crore. (File photo)

Cracking down on property tax defaulters, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has attached over 3,500 properties for not paying their taxes so far. The civic body has also discontinued water connections of nearly 260 properties over property tax dues.

In the last one month, the BMC has intensified its drive against property tax defaulters. The move came after collection of property tax — the civic body’s biggest source of revenue — started falling. While the civic body had set a target of earning over Rs 5,000 crore in 2019-20, by December 2019, the BMC had collected property tax worth only Rs 1,387 crore. Fearing that it will fall short of its revenue target before the end of the financial year, the BMC started attaching properties of defaulters and seizure of their movable articles.

The BMC has attached 3,564 properties and disconnected water connections of 262 properties across the city for defaulting on property taxes till March first week, said officials. The data by BMC shows that in the island city, the maximum 147 properties were attached in F-North (Matunga, Sion), 481 were attached in T ward (Mulund) in the eastern part of the city, and 329 in R north (Dahisar) faced action. In L ward (Kurla), a maximum 58 water connections were snapped, followed by 30 in P-north (Malad) ward and 26 in T ward (Mulund).