Interest-waiver sop a hit,MC earns Rs 5 cr from defaulters

The department is expecting a huge collection till March 31 because a majority of the collections usually come during the last days of the fiscal year. Till February,the department had collected Rs 40.46 crore from the house tax defaulters while the water and sewer collection was pegged at Rs 5.71 crore.

Around 1.08 lakh people across the city have not paid their bills for the past many years. The defaulters are charged 18 per cent per annum as interest for non-payment of bills. Before the assembly elections too,the waiver was announced and hence a number of defaulters were waiting for the announcement since long. With this the state exchequer will lose Rs 124.82 crore,which was the interest on defaulters.

MC Commissioner G S Ghuman said,”We are expecting more collections because whenever waiver is announced,collections increase manifold.”

Meanwhile,a large number of localities in the city have not received their bills while March 31 is the last date for depositing bills. Pawan Sood,a resident of Tagore Nagar,said,”Last year too,we did not receive bills and later we were fined. They told that they will refund that fine later but it has not happened till date.”

Executive Engineer Manjit Singh,from operation and maintenance cell,said,”We have received the complaint and have deputed our men to distribute the bills at the earliest.”