Rs 52 cr in tax arrears,Pimpri civic body warns 6,000 defaulters

On Saturday,Sharma warned that the civic body will attach the property of defaulters. “We have confiscated certain properties in the past and we will do so in future as well if the property owners fail to pay their dues,” he said.

The arrear amount of Rs 52 crore has been disputed by Shiv Sena corporator Seema Savle. She said the information she has received through an RTI application is that the citizens collectively owe Rs 230 crore by way of property tax to the PCMC. “Among these,the bigwigs owe the PCMC nearly Rs 130 crore property tax for last four years. They are in default of over Rs 50,000 each,” she said.

The PCMC,however,insists that only Rs 52 crore remains to be recovered from the citizens. PCMC assistant municipal commissioner Shahji Pawar said in 90 per cent of cases (of the 6,000),there is a dispute over the arrear amount. “Either people have gone to court or in some cases the amount is not recoverable. For example,the state government has said the PCMC cannot recover property tax to the tune of Rs 50 crore,” Sharma said.

Sharma said the PCMC had a target of Rs 89 crore this fiscal year. “We are going to cross this target. We will reach a figure of Rs 100 crore,” he said. Savle alleged that PCMC in four years has been able to recover only 57 per cent of the tax while 43 per cent remained in arrears. “PCMC has decided to increase the tax but failed to recover property tax. If it recovers the pending amount,it won’t be required to hike the tax,” Savle said.