KMC starts special drive to collect house tax arrears worth Rs 4,700 cr

Kolkata: The Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) will launch a special drive to collect house tax arrears worth Rs 4,700 crore, Deputy Mayor Atin Ghosh said on Tuesday.

This is for the first time in the history of the KMC since the Mayor-in-Council system was introduced in 1985 that sincere attempts are being made to collect house tax arrears. Earlier, the state government had allowed waiver scheme twice, namely, between 2000 and 2005 when Subrata Mukherjee was the Mayor and again between 2010 and 2016 when Sovan Chatterjee was the Mayor. But on both the occasions, the KMC could not collect the entire house tax arrears.

Ghosh held meetings with senior officials of the Assessment department to prepare the blueprint that will be followed to collect house tax arrears. The officials of the Assessment department representing various divisions will give the lists containing the names of the tax defaulters to Ghosh who in turn will pass them on to the Councilors. The latter will visit their houses and if they agree to clear the dues, then the KMC will waive 50 percent of the interest and 99 percent of the penalty. If property tax is not paid on time then the KMC imposes 12 percent interest and 15 percent penalty. Ghosh said he 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.

He added 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.

The heavy loss in revenue which the KMC is facing now is the handiwork of the erstwhile Left Front government.

The party leaders have told thousands of house tax owners in Behala, Jadavpur and Garden Reach areas, known as the added areas in KMC's parlance, not to pay property taxes. Kamal Basu, who was the Mayor from 1985 to 1990, sent a team comprising officials of the Assessment department to take stock of the buildings in the added areas and impose a property tax. The officials were beaten up by locals at the instruction of the CPI(M) leaders in Behala in 1986. Following this, the drive was suspended forever.

Ghosh said in case of housing complexes if the flat owners' associations want a meeting with the KMC officials on house tax arrears, then if informed beforehand, he would attend the meetings. Ghosh is very hopeful

about the collection of the house tax arrears.