Thane: While the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) property tax department was given a collection target of Rs 140 crore for financial year 2022-23, but the department has collected only Rs 65 crore till March 31, drawing criticism from all quarters. UMC assistant commissioner Jethanand Karamchandani has informed that the same recovery was 109 crores last year.
Karamchandani said, "UMC is in a financial crisis and the financial balance of the civic body is based on the income of property tax and water supply tax collection. Apart from this, various government grants, urban planning department are also sources of income. Last year, the municipal corporation had collected an income of Rs 109 crore from the property tax department. Assuming last year's income, the department had set a target of recovery of Rs.140 crore this year."
"Meanwhile, due to capital appreciation, the property tax bill was a mess till Diwali. After scrapping capitalized property tax collection before Diwali, UMC commissioner Aziz Shaikh launched the Abhay Yojana for the property tax department. But the Abhay Yojana did not received good response from the citizens and it failed" informed Karamchandani.
Recovery target set at ₹110 crore
The municipal property tax department has been given a recovery target of at least 110 crores. But with nobody in control of the department, recovery was questionable from the start. The UMC deputy commissioner of property tax department Priyanka Rajput, assistant commissioner Jethanand Karamchandani and other officials started the action by preparing a list of property owners who have more than 1 lakh in arrears. More than 650 outstanding properties were served with notices and some properties were sealed.
Jamir Lengarekar, additional commissioner, UMC said, " The UMC property tax department officials despite taking action Rs 65 crore was recovered by the end of March 31. The sealing action on Bank of India in Camp No-5 Netaji Chowk came under the control of the Ulhasnagar civic body.However, surprise is being expressed as less than half of the recovery target has not been recovered till March 31. 43 crore less recovery than last year due to poor policy of property tax department official. UMC chief Aziz Shaikh also expressed displeasure over the low recovery."
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