While 6,746 persons are yet to clear water bills of over Rs 1 lakh each, the figure for poperty tax defaulters stands at 3,810
Pic/Mohan Patil
As the Pune Municipal Corporations (PMC) readies itself to pass the annual civic budget for the year 2014-15, it has been learnt that the PMC is yet to recover water bills, worth over Rs 1 lakh, from 6,746 defaulters. Similarly, 3,810 persons, having bills above Rs 1 lakh, have defaulted property tax.
Pic/Mohan Patil
The total amount the PMC needs to recover from these defaulters is Rs 710.58 crore — Rs 306.76 crore from water bills and Rs 403.82 crore from property tax.
The information was made available by the civic administration based on the query filed by corporator Vijaya Wadkar. Though the PMC is working hard to reduce the list of defaulters by recovering dues, its inefficient recovery system is impacting the revenue generation.
Wadkar said, “While the civic administration is suggesting cost-cutting measures for its annual budget, citing low generation of revenue, it is yet to collect over Rs 700 crore in taxes. I deliberately asked the figures of defaulters with bills over Rs 1 lakh. This was done to substantiate claims that most defaulters belong to the business class. When the PMC doesn’t spare a common man, why has it gone soft on thousands of such defaulters?”
Raked in
Between April 1, 2013 and February 3, 2014, deputy commissioner of tax department has collected only Rs 82.75 crore of water bills. During the same period, superintendent engineer of water distribution department generated just Rs 38.63 crore through water bills. Similarly, the property tax department managed a collection of Rs 681.09 crore until February 4.
When asked why has the PMC not taken action against the defaulters, Additional Municipal Commissioner Rajendra Jagtap said, “The statistics comprise all kinds of non-payers. Many are unused water connections, which also fall in the defaulters’ list. Several shopkeepers have taken connection on the society’s name, where the shops are located, rather than taking individual connections to avoid PMC action against them. Instructions have been issued to identify such defaulters.”
He assured collection of pending dues from all the defaulters in the coming days.
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Rs 306.76cr Amount PMC needs to recover from water bill defaulters
Rs 403.82cr Amount PMC needs to recover from property tax defaulters
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