GHMC in hurry to collect property tax
GHMC has to collect Rs 1,100 crore tax dues in 45 days.
Hyderabad: Post GHMC elections, the municipal body is on a race to collect property tax. GHMC has to collect Rs 1,100 crore tax dues in 45 days. Bill collectors have been ordered to issue red notices to defaulters including government offices. As on February 15, the GHMC had collected over Rs 545 crore. Every bill collector in the 18 circles has a target of Rs 10 crore. Officials have been directed to meet the tax payers individually, call or SMS for clearing of bills.
GHMC staff will check building permissions, occupancy certificates and building penalisation schemes while collecting tax. On February 24, the GHMC will conduct a property tax drive in all 18 circles and pending bills can be cleared on that day at GHMC circle offices and clarifications sought. There are 13.6 lakh properties of which roughly 10 lakh have a taxation limit of Rs 5,000. The rest are commercial complexes and high-rises. “There are close to 2,000 major property tax defaulters. The dues from the top 1,000 defaulters in each of the 18 circles are over Rs 385 crore. Some have arrears from previous years," said a senior official.
Officials plan to collect details and issue notices to the top 50 defaulters. The GHMC has collected information from the electricity department to identify buildings using commercial connections to assess them as commercial assets.