Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
The Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar Municipal Corporation (CSMC) is functioning with limited staff as its majority of officers and personnel have been deployed on the Lok Sabha election duty. In this crisis, the civic administration has made a recordable collection of taxes of Rs 34 crore from April 1, 2024, to May 8.
The collection includes Rs 30.06 crore as property tax and Rs 4.04 crore as water tax. The trend of paying taxes online seems to be catching up as well. The civic administration made a recordable collection at the beginning of the financial year for the first time in the history of CSMC. Surprisingly, the citizens volunteered to pay their taxes with little effort from CSMC.
At the outset, the tax collection was planned by the CSMC administrator G Sreekanth and the deputy commissioner Aparna Thete. The property-holders were alerted about their current year tax they had to pay through SMSes sent from April. The experimentation of introducing a 7-star rating scheme is also receiving good response. Moreover, the administration had clarified that it is not levying any interest on tax paid in the first quarter of the financial year (April to June). The interest levied is 2 percent per month. Hence it seems that the citizens rushed to pay their taxes in the first quarter and avoid levying interest upon them.
The CSMC had set a target collection of Rs 500 crore in the financial year 2024-25. Earlier, the tax recovery drive would be used to gain momentum since December or the beginning of the last quarter of the financial year. This year, the civic chief has clarified that the tax collection will be reviewed every month and those derelicting their duties (by not achieving their targets) would have to face severe actions.
Thete said, “ The property-holders can know the amount of tax they have to pay through an SMS alert. Besides, the citizens are also enthusiastic to pay their taxes to enjoy benefits offered under the 7-star rating scheme. Meanwhile, the zone-wise collection of taxes will resume in full capacity as soon as the election is over.”
Box
Status of tax collection in 2023-24
Target of Property Tax - Rs 350 crore
Collection of Property Tax - Rs 157 crore
Target of Water Tax - Rs 130 crore
Collection of Water Tax - Rs 28 crore.