AMC identifies 83K properties, levies tax of Rs 115 cr in 5 years

Aurangabad, July 29:

The tax assessment section of Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) deserves a pat for bringing 83,963 properties, under the ambit of property tax, in the last five years. Of which, around 12,000 properties were brought on record during the pandemic situation in the city. The civic administration has levied property tax to the tune of Rs 114.77 crore upon these newly identified properties.

The civic officials identified around 15,000 new properties and levied a property tax of Rs 16 crore upon them during the financial year 2017-18; identified 30,038 properties and levied property tax of Rs 34 crore upon them in 2018-19; identified 26,916 properties and levied property tax of Rs 45.77 crore upon them in 2019-20; identified 7,916 properties and levied property tax of Rs 15 crore upon them in 2020-21, and 4,093 properties were identified and property tax to the tune of Rs 4 crore was levied upon them from April to July (26), 2021. It may be noted that after the merger of Satara and Deolai into the AMC, the properties were brought under the tax ambit in 2017-18, said the sources in the tax assessment section.

12K identified during pandemic situation

The pandemic situation was witnessed in the city due to the first wave of the Coronavirus since March 2020. The second wave followed it and the grim situation continued in the city till June 2021 after the District Disaster Management Authority declared relaxations to unlock the pandemic situation and restore normalcy. In the meantime, the AMC under the leadership of administrator A K Pandey and the guidance of the assessor and collector of tax, Aparna Thete, continued their field survey and succeeded in identifying 12,009 new properties during these two years.

300 properties under tax ambit daily

According to tax assessment section officials, " The field staff (comprising engineers) through the ward office get the property details filled up in the tax assessment form of each property-holder. These forms are sent in bundles to our sections. The forms include details like plot area, carpet area, super built-up area, type of construction, date of construction, number of rooms, type of property (residential, commercial, semi-commercial, educational, etc), name of the property-owner, etc. If all is well, with the available staff, we are able to bring 300 properties on record (data feeding and levying of tax) daily. As on today, there are 2.72 lakh properties on AMC record. It includes 2.25 lakh residential, 33,000 commercial, 6,418 semi-commercial and 753 industrial.

No compromise in the recovery of taxes

Thete, who is also deputy commissioner, said, " The target collection of property tax is Rs 468.54 crore and water tax is Rs 108.57 crore for the financial year 2021-22. Of which, from April 1 to July 26, 2021, the property tax of Rs 31.88 crore and water tax of Rs 8.22 crore had been collected. The property tax and water tax are prime sources of income for the AMC. The non-payment of taxes by the citizens is pushing the civic body into financial trouble. We are now hopeful that lakhs of properties would be brought on record after completion of GIS mapping of all properties, before the end of the year. The civic chief has plans to levy a tax upon them from the next financial year. The collection of taxes in exchequer will help encourage the AMC to undertake development projects and welfare works for the citizens on large scale."

According to sources, " The civic administration, in past has made an initiative, to appoint a private agency to collect property tax, but the proposal was stalled after strong opposition to it. Now, the civic officials after visiting various municipal corporations in the state, as a part of the study tour, have proposed to seize the properties of default tax-payers and auction them to recover the outstanding amount."