Vijayawada politicos are top tax defaulters

Vijayawda: Many of the top tax defaulters in Vijayawada city are big shots, politicians and government establishments. Member of Parliament from Vijayawada, Kesineni Srinivas (Nani), Vijayawada central MLA Bonda Umamaheswar Rao and Vijaywada west MLA Jaleel Khan were also in the top 100 property tax defaulters list, according to the data given by Vijayawada Municipal Corporation (VMC).

The cash-starved VMC is struggling to collect the tax amount though the financial year is nearing its completion. The property tax collections have not even crossed half-way mark. The revenue wing of the civic body has collected only Rs 71.01 crore property tax as against Rs 164.81 crore total demand, which ia a mere 43.09 per cent. As the financial year ends in another 20 days the civic body has decided to name and shame the top 100 defaulters.

The VMC has three revenue circles and it has listed top 100 defaulters in each circle. In circle-1, Vijayawada west MLA Jaleel Khan turned out to be the top defaulter with a total Rs 14,86,358 tax dues on eight properties in which he has shares. Vijayawada MP Kesineni Srinivas owes Rs 9,44,505 to the VMC on his property at Khanna Nagar near Benz Circle. He has not paid the property tax since October 2015.

Vijayawada central MLA Bonda Umamaheswar Rao has not paid tax for his property at Bandar Road since April 2016 and Rs 28,02,606 was due against him. KBR Constructions was the top defaulter in property tax in the entire city with Rs 53,25,674 followed by government dental college with Rs 18,39,392 and APSRTC with Rs 14,07,899 dues against them. Many educational institutes and government offices also found themselves in the top defaulters list. VMC commissioner G. Veerapandian has directed the officials to speed up the tax collections and ordered to initiate legal action against the defaulters.