Mira-Bhayandar: The Mira Bhayandar Municipal Corporation (MBMC) has started sending SMS (text) reminders to thousands of property owners in the twin-cities to clear their pending arrears along with penalties and interest for late payment. However, the step has created confusion among citizens who have received such messages months after clearing their property tax dues on time.
After creating a registry of around 1.5 lakh mobile phone numbers, the MBMC apparently sent bulk messages even before linking them to the updated data of paid and unpaid property tax bills leading to chaos. “I have already paid my property tax before the due date last month, but was shocked when I received an SMS from the MBMC on Tuesday. The message asked me to pay dues along with interest,” said Mira Road resident Rajesh Kumar.
Realising the goof-up, the tax department has now issued a clarification and sent revised SMSs that those who have cleared their dues should ignore the messages which according to them had been sent inadvertently. As per information sourced from the tax department, the collection target was set at Rs190 crore for the financial year 2021-22. However, the MBMC managed to mop up just Rs161 crore.
Against this year's figure of around Rs222 crore, the MBMC has so far recovered only Rs130 crore from 2.54 lakh taxpayers and still needs to recover Rs92 crore of outstanding taxes before Mar 31.
The assessed number of properties in the twin-cities is currently pegged at 3,68,501, including 63,498 commercial and 3,05,003 residential units. Notably, the MBMC is mandated to recover at least Rs200 crore to keep itself qualified for receiving grants under the 15th finance commission.
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