Indore (Madhya Pradesh): Asking for a water supply connection for the District Hospital threw up a surprise for the health department officials when Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) served a notice of over Rs 36 lakh to them as property tax dues and solid waste management charges.
Moreover, IMC officials have asked the health department to pay the due tax for getting the water supply connection. The civic body also claimed that the tax had been pending for many years.
Now, the health department has sought help from senior officials in Bhopal to provide the funds as they are facing an acute water shortage in the District Hospital at Dhar Road as the existing bore-wells run dry in summer.
In its notice under sections 173 and 174 of the Madhya Pradesh Municipal Corporation Act of 1956 served in March, the assistant revenue officer of Zone 2 mentioned that, according to IMC records, tax of the building was due for many years, which included property tax of Rs 33.85 lakh and solid waste management charges of Rs 2.78 lakh.
The notice also stated that non-payment of the amount would lead to legal action against the institution —seizure, or confiscation.
Assistant revenue officer (Zone 2) Punit Upadhyaya said they had served the notice to the District Hospital, Dhar Road, but the tax had not been deposited by the health department yet. “We’ve sent the notice of over Rs 36 lakh as property tax and solid waste management charges of the hospital have been pending for a long time. We didn’t receive any communication from the health department officials after that,” Upadhyaya told Free Press.
Under-construction district hospital | FP Photo
‘Ask for water supply and get a tax notice’
Civil surgeon Dr Santosh Verma said they had applied for a water connection for the hospital as the bore-wells run dry in summer and, as they were running an OPD at the hospital in the newly constructed quarters, they required a water connection to provide water to patients, as well as for hospital chores. ‘We’ve written to officials in Bhopal to resolve the issue or to suggest a way for us to gather the funds needed to pay the pending tax,’ Dr Verma said.
Work on the new building of the hospital is going on and about 32 quarters are being constructed. The health department has shifted the OPD, emergency services and gynaecology ward to some of the quarters to provide health facilities to the patients.
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