KMC officials involved in huge scam: BRS leader

Karimnagar: Sardar Sohan Singh, the husband of BRS corporator Kamaljit Kour, said that municipal corporation officials are engaged in a massive scam by collecting money for house tax from the back door here under Karimnagar Municipal Corporation.

Sohan Singh, speaking to the media alongside his wife, BRS corporator Kamaljit Kour, at a press conference held in Karimnagar on Tuesday, said that the officials caused a huge loss to the government exchequer by issuing assessment certificates without collecting the pending house tax by reaching an agreement with the defaulters.

Even for a standard shed, the minimum annual house tax in a smart city like Karimnagar will range between '1,500 and '2,000. However, municipal officials have reached an agreement with defaulters who have not paid the house tax for the previous 20 to 30 years and are collecting minimum bills of '200 to '300 and giving assessment certificates to them before collecting the money from the defaulters through the backdoor.

Municipal officials use mediators to take bribes from the public and change their names by creating bogus legal, death, and family member documents. The officials collect money from the citizens for every service such as birth certificate issuance, housing mutation, allotment of house number, trade licence and house permission.

Even though the issue was brought to the district collector's attention four months ago, the officials did not change their practices. He requested that swift action be done against corrupt municipal officials, and well as criminal charges be filed against them.