KAKINADA: Kakinada Municipal Corporation (KMC) has launched a special drive to collect user charges for picking up garbage from households and commercial establishments. Property and water taxes are also being collected as part of the drive.
According to KMC officials, they have not reached even the break-even point in collection of garbage user charges. The municipality collects ₹90 per household from residential areas and ₹60 per household in slum areas. Though there had been no response from people on payment of user charges, ward volunteers are now persuading households to pay up.
Collection of water taxes is very low, while payment of property tax is better. KMC additional commissioner Ch. Naga Narasimha Rao said the municipality has so far collected 51 per cent of its taxes. Water taxes could be collected only to the extent of ₹1.80 crore against the ₹8 crore target.
Narasimha Rao has instructed volunteers and ward secretaries to draw up a plan to collect all taxes, including user charges, from 30 to 50 households every day. He said stringent action will be taken against ward secretariat staff and volunteers if collections are low.
The additional commissioner warned people against throwing garbage on roads or in drainages. This is in the interest of people themselves, he pointed out.
Meanwhile, the Kakinada Ratepayers Association has filed a writ petition against capital value tax system introduced by the state government. Association secretary P. Raghurama Rao said Kakinada Municipal Corporation has not followed any due procedures before implementing this tax system. He pointed out that as per the new tax policy, property taxes could be raised by another 15 percent.
