Lokmat News Network
Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar:
There has been a large rush of aspiring candidates for the municipal corporation elections. It is mandatory for every candidate to submit clearance certificates confirming that property tax and water tax have been paid. As a result, over the past 15 days, the municipal corporation has received ₹3.5 crore through property tax and water tax. The administration has expressed confidence that this collection figure will reach ₹300 crore by the end of March.
Preparations for the municipal corporation elections have been underway for the past one to one-and-a-half months. While work related to prabhag formation and voter lists was in progress, aspiring candidates also began their preparations in earnest. After the model code of conduct (MCC) came into force, candidates started arranging various required documents. Submitting certificates confirming that there are no outstanding dues of property tax and water tax was made mandatory. Consequently, while obtaining various “No Objection Certificates” (NOCs), a large number of candidates also cleared their pending property and water tax dues. This has resulted in ₹3.5 crore being deposited in the corporation’s treasury, said administrator G Sreekanth. With elections being held after a gap of 10 years, there is a huge crowd of aspirants, and the number of people collecting nomination forms has reached nearly 5,000.
So far, collections through property tax and water tax used to range between ₹150 crore and ₹190 crore. In the last eight months alone, ₹191 crore has been collected. With the addition of the recent ₹3.5 crore, the administrator expressed confidence that the total collection will cross ₹300 crore by the end of this March.