Villagers pay Rs 50.89 crore in Gram Panchayat coffers

92.22 per cent of the targets have been achieved

Aurangabad, May 27:

The Gram Panchayats (GPs) started a campaign from November to December last year to recover property and water tax. Responding to this campaign, the villagers deposited Rs 50.89 crore into the coffers of GPs in the district. The GPs also paid the electricity bills of the public water supply scheme.

There are 868 GPs functioning for 1,358 villages in the district. GPs are seen as local self-governing bodies at the village level with the right to levy various taxes including property and water tax. The Panchayat department of the Zilla Parishad gave a target of recovery of arrears of Rs 3.14 crore for financial year 2020-21.

The pending tax amount for the financial year 2021-22 was Rs 36.75 crore. The total objective was to collect a total of 39.89 crore. Based on the information received from the ZP, out of the previous arrears of Rs 3.11 crore and current tax of Rs 33.67 crore was recovered. Officials said that 92.22 per cent of the targets have been achieved.

Rs 14.10 crore received from water supply

The GPs of the district had pending Rs 1.34 crore to the villagers. Besides, the pending water tax was Rs 14.3 crore. The target was to recover the amount by the end of March. The GP carried out this special campaign, with the cooperation of the villagers, who deposited Rs 14.10 crore as water tax.