Defaulting PMC corporators rush in

PUNE, June 7: Municipal Commissioner Arun Bhatia's special drive to recover property tax arrears seems to have sent panic buttons pressin...

PUNE, June 7: Municipal Commissioner Arun Bhatia8217;s special drive to recover property tax arrears seems to have sent panic buttons pressing among corporators. Several of them, including Mayor Datta Gaikwad and leader of the House Chandrakant Chhajed, have started paying their long-pending dues to the corporation.

The PMC tax assessment department has prepared a list of corporators or their close relatives, who own property in the city jurisdiction. The names of Dilip Tupe Rs 12,260, Mohan Kambale Rs 3305, Shashikala Kumbhar Rs 1300, Dayaram Rajguru Rs.2844 and Vijay Mohite Rs.947 figure in the list of defaulters while several of them had made partly payment of their arrears.

The chairman of transport committee Prakash Lodha owes Rs 11,8970 to the corporation. Ashok Mehendale Rs 16.239, member of education board and Rajendra Bhange Rs 7,738, member of transport committee are also yet to pay their arrears. Mayor Datta Gaikwad, who owns five properties in Aundh, paid Rs 27,356 on May 25 while leader of the House Chandrakant Chhajed paid Rs 6,220 on May 21 for his two properties in Bopodi.

Most of the corporators had paid their arrears in the last week of May when the PMC had intensified its drive to recover the dues. The corporators, who had paid their tax include Kazi Batul Rs 3,315, Uday Joshi Rs 1,275, Shantilal Suratwala Rs 8234 for two properties, Ramesh Khanna Rs 56,825 for four properties, Bhaganbai Jadhav Rs. 4919, Alka Patil Rs 9,880 and John Paul Rs 1,013.

The corporation has so far recovered Rs 1.19 lakh out of Rs 1.81 lakh from the corporators. Most of the corporators had paid the taxes after March 31, which was the last date to pay the arrears.

Besides, the department had also prepared another list of property owners, who are close relatives of politicians. Shiv Sena MLA Shashikant Sutar owes Rs 12,244 for his property in Kothrud. Besides, his relatives including wife and former corporators Rasika Sutar Rs 29,107 have not paid any arrears. They are Shankarrao Sutar Rs.34957 and Umakant Sutar Rs. 59,021.

The other relatives of the corporators, who are yet to pay their arrears are Baburao Patil Rs.1,992, Krishnabai Amrale Rs. 3571, Digambar Jagtap Rs 3,913 and Govind Keskar Rs 948.