As against the Rs.2 crore fixed target of tax collection for the year 2022-23, the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC) has so far collected a whopping Rs.1650 crore from the denizens despite the fact that many of the areas are lacking basic amenities in the city limits especially in south part of the Hyderabad, also known as Old City.
As the financial year is about to end soon, the GHMC has decided to constitute special teams to achieve the target. As part of the plan, the civic body has identified nearly 4.79 lakh defaulters in the Greater Hyderabad limits. It is learned that the civic body is now contemplating to shoot red notices to the defaulters who have failed to pay their taxes for long. Apart from giving some time for payment of property taxes, the red notice makes a mention of legal action against the defaulters.
With only two months left for the conclusion of the financial year, the civic body has set a zone wise collection limits to achieve the target. Out of a total remaining tax collection target of Rs.40,738, it has been decided to collect Rs.52.20 crore from Charminar Zone, Rs.26.29 crore from L B Nagar, Rs.161.43 crore from Khairatabad, Rs.61.76 crore from Serilingampally, Rs.35.70 from Kukatpally, Rs.70 crores from Secunderabad.
Meanwhile, the Commissioner GHMC Lokesh Kumar instructed the Zonal Commissioners and other officials to collect the property tax strictly from the citizens as per the guidelines framed and strive to achieve the target on time.
However, it is said that disputes like one assessment number on multiple properties make it difficult for the officials to establish the actual owner of the property to collect the tax. In several cases, party tax was remitted by one person claiming title ship of the property while the other is claiming that he is the actual owner of the house having the same assessment number.
In such cases, claimants want the officials to settle the issue first before making any payment in favour of the GHMC. This may hamper the efforts of the civic body to achieve the target. The issue may have been created due to the nexus between the local GHMC staff and the politicians but caused revenue damage directly to the civic body.
