Property tax worth Rs 1 cr collected by Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation

Kolkata: Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) has collected property tax worth Rs 1 crore in the past one-and-a-half-months.

The total outstanding has reached a staggering Rs 40 crore during the past few years.

According to sources, BMC authority started delivering the demand notice of property taxes to the residents from last month.

It is alleged that during the tenure of Sabyasachi Dutta as Mayor of BMC, property tax collection was not given priority and as a result, the BMC is running short of funds.

In the past few months, the BMC authority appealed to sanction money for several projects and works to the state government.

Following this, it was decided that the BMC will start collecting the pending property taxes from the residents. It is alleged that a good number of residents have not paid their property taxes for the past few years. They have been asked to pay up along with the arrears soon.

"Collection of tax continues throughout the year. Residents can pay their taxes online and offline. Because of the ongoing lockdown, people did not come out to pay their property taxes.

"Our request to the residents is to pay their taxes at the earliest," said a BMC official.