Bank Of Baroda's Free PoS Devices Power Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation's Drive To Recover ₹84.31 Crore Property Tax Arrears

Mira-Bhayandar: With less than three months remaining for the final quarter of the current fiscal (2023-24) to end on March 31, the recently procured electronic point of sale (e-PoS) devices are proving to be a boon for the Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC), which faces a daunting task of recovering property tax arrears amounting more than Rs 84.31crore to meet its budgetary target.

Significance of e-PoS devices

Provided free of cost by Bank of Baroda in November 2023, the PoS machines have been linked with the main data server of the MBMC and payments made by citizens are reflected instantly. One of the major sources of revenue generation, property tax collections contribute a lion’s share in the annual budgets. Although collections amounting to Rs280 crore had been projected for the current fiscal, the MBMC anticipates Rs 232.72 crore owing to the presence of double and ghost entries in the tax registry.

Current property tax status

With just a little over Rs 148.40 crore in its property tax kitty till January 2, the MBMC has to mop up arrears amounting to Rs 84.31 crore in the remaining three months. While Rs 55.11 crore was received from 99,360 payers through various online platforms, over 1.52 lakh payers contributed Rs93.29 crore by opting for offline payments.

“The PoS devices have proved to be of immense help by boosting the online payment figures by nearly 15-20%. While 194 properties owned by chronic defaulters have been sealed, a list of major defaulters has been prepared and these taxpayers will face legal action if they fail to clear their due,” said tax department head Chandrakant Borse.

Taxpayer statistics

As per the MBMC registry, the total number of taxpayers (commercial and residential) is currently pegged at 3,58,030 out of which 2,52,208 have cleared their dues even as 1,05,822 are yet to respond to bills and notices issued by the tax department.