According to sources, the annual property tax of Vidhan Bhavan premises is around Rs8 lakh. The department had been paying the tax regularly till 2015-16 but hasn’t paid a penny since 2016-17.
NAGPUR: The functioning of the state’s public works department has come under the scanner for defaulting on property tax of Vidhan Bhavan since 2016-2017.
On the one hand it has funds to carry out renovation work of Vidhan Bhavan, MLA Hostel and official bungalows and on the other, it has achieved the dubious distinction of defaulting on NMC’s property tax which has soared to over Rs40 lakh.
According to sources, the annual property tax of Vidhan Bhavan premises is around Rs8 lakh. The department had been paying the tax regularly till 2015-16 but hasn’t paid a penny since 2016-17. Sources said the NMC has levied an interest of almost Rs8 lakh on Vidhan Bhavan for property tax default. Now the department has approached the NMC to reconsider the interest levied due to defaulting of property tax.
Sources said not only Vidhan Bhavan, the NMC is struggling to recover almost Rs60 crore dues from various central and state government departments. Besides this, Mihan and VNIT, too, have defaulted on NMC tax. The outstanding dues of both the organizations have been collectively pegged at over Rs50 crore.
Though the PWD has been paying property tax, it continues to maintain firefighting equipment installed in the Vidhan Bhavan building. A senior official from the NMC’s fire and emergency services department confirmed that the firefighting system installed there is OK.
Sources said municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B has expressed anguish over poor tax recovery and asked assistant municipal commissioners of all 10 zones to improve the same. The total arrears of property tax is around Rs573 crore. During the current financial year, only 55,000 property owners paid arrears amounting to Rs32 crore, while 3.84 lakh continue to use civic amenities without paying tax, said the source.
