KMC cracks whip on marriage houses for fudging amount over high-cost weddings

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will launch special drives to unearth the exact figure the marriage houses and community halls are charging for holding expensive wedding ceremonies.

Senior civic officials said most of the halls and marriage houses where expensive wedding events are held do not furnish the actual figure to the KMC. "In the receipt given to those who have hired the houses or halls, the real figures are fudged resulting in huge losses for the KMC that calculates the property tax on the basis of the figures disclosed," senior officials said. The KMC is preparing a blueprint which will be followed to unearth the exact figures.

Meanwhile, the civic authorities have chalked out a plan to realise house tax arrears worth above Rs 4,000 crore.

Mayor Firhad Hakim and Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh sat with senior officials of the KMC's Assessment department to prepare the blueprint.

The KMC will waive 50 percent of the interest and 99 percent of the penalty for those owners who are willing to pay the arrears. The KMC has fixed a target of collecting tax arrears which the Assessment department will have to meet by March 31. From April 1 to May 30, the Assessment department officials will have to submit lists of properties that have not been assessed to Ghosh.

It is also being stated that the officials will have to inform about the number of pending files twice a month. Ghosh maintained that in South Kolkata, the house tax dues will be around Rs 969.54 crore. In North Kolkata, it is around Rs 640 crore. In Jadavpur, the house tax arrears will be around Rs 129 crore while in Behala it is almost Rs 160.50 crore. In Garden Reach, the outstanding will be around Rs 22.42 crore while tax from Tollygunge would amount to Rs 260.31 crore.