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Bengal

Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation collects Rs 24L property tax in 15 days

The Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has received Rs 24 lakh in a fortnight from property tax collection. The revenue was generated after the civic body had recently proposed that taxpayers could pay their dues in demonetised Rs 500 notes.

The amount deposited each week in the last fortnight is nearly four times above the average weekly property tax collection of Rs 3 lakh by BMC.

With the high value note Rs 500 notes getting an extended lifeline till December 15, civic officials are expecting to collect a handsome amount, which may cross Rs 50 lakh, a record collection for the civic body.

“The collection is now above Rs 24 lakh. I cannot confirm the exact amount, but it has surely increased from 24 lakh,” said Corporation commissioner Alokesh Prasad Roy.

Talking to Millennium Post on Thursday, Roy said that as per RBI guidelines, the civic body is accepting old Rs 500 notes. “We are receiving property tax paid by old Rs 500 notes. We are receiving payments by these notes for other civic dues as well. 

We will continue to receive the old notes till further directions are given by RBI. Payment of tax can be made using the old Rs 500 notes till December 15. According to the RBI directives, payment can no longer be done with the old Rs 1,000 notes,” Roy added.

Meanwhile, a source at the BMC said that the queues are long because people find it easy to submit old note. “The defaulters in the last few days have queued up in front of the corporation headquarters to clear their dues using the old Rs 500 notes. This way, they are also getting rid of the banned currency note,” the source added.

It may be recalled that BMC is collecting property tax as per the old valuation set before 2005. The new board is working to frame a new tax structure. It may be recalled that a Supreme Court verdict in 2007 termed the tax structure framed by erstwhile Left Front board as “unconstitutional.”

The Bidhannagar Municipality had initiated a process in 2013 for a new tax structure. The civic body circulated self-assessment forms to all lease-holders, asking residents to fill details of their property with breakup of the total area, floors, garages of the holding, years and costs of construction, years and dates of sanction of building plans and the details of whether the buildings were redeveloped or altered after the last assessment.
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