Bhopal: Around 34 departments of the state government, owe over Rs 29 crore to Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC).
The defaulters include transport, finance, home affairs, health, higher education, forest, PWD, Jail, mining, GAD and others.
Out of these 34 departments, around 17 have not even paid a single penny of dues under service tax so far. Out of the remaining departments only four have cleared their dues, while the rest have together paid over Rs 2.63 crore to the civic body. Repeated notices sent by the BMC have failed to evoke any response.
Refusal of government departments to clear their tax dues has hit the BMC hard which is reeling under loss. Lack of revenue has hampered several developmental projects of the corporation.
The service tax is levied for accessing services of the civic body, including sanitation and water.
Dues stood at Rs 32 crore at the end of 2020. After BMC’s recovery notice, only a handful of departments cleared their dues bringing the pending amount down to Rs 29.37 crore.
