Bhopal: Urban bodies collected 60% of property tax in 5 yrs, says report

Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): Amid the conflict between Madhya Pradesh Cricket Association (MPCA) and Indore Municipal Corporation (IMC) a report suggests the urban bodies collected only 60% of property tax during the five-year period from 2015 to 2020, showing laxity on their part or their limitation. 

Notably, a team of IMC led by an officer Lata Agrawal reached MPCA headquarters on Monday and asked the staff to pay the property tax while India-South Africa T-20 match was to be played on Tuesday. 

The MPCA president Abhilash Khandekar later alleged that this was all done as a few young IAS officers of IMC didn’t get the passes to watch the match whereas the MPCA had already provided 25 passes to the IMC commissioner Pratibha Pal. 

A CAG report on urban bodies financial status in Madhya Pradesh states, “The average collection of Property Tax for the period 2015-20 was 60 per cent of total demand. The collection declined from 69 to 45 per cent during the period 2017-20. An amount of Rs 269.66 crore was outstanding for collection as on March 2020 in the selected Urban Local Bodies. GIS Survey was conducted only in 123 (30 per cent) of Urban Local Bodies. Out of 12 selected Nagar Palika Parishads, only Raghogarh and Seoni and out of 17 selected Nagar Parishads, only Sultanpur collected Service Charges in lieu of property taxes.”

The report further stated similarly, in the case of water charges of 33 selected Urban Local Bodies, during 2016-20, collection had declined from 29 to 15 per cent. An amount of Rs 375.40 crore of water charges was outstanding in selected Urban Local Bodies as on March 2020. 

“Further, we noticed that none of the selected Urban Local Bodies had installed metres for water connections and only fixed water charges were being levied. Therefore, the collection of monthly water charges from the beneficiaries was insufficient against the expenses incurred on operation and maintenance of water supply. Shop rent amounting to Rs 8.9 crore was also outstanding against leaseholders / occupiers”, stated the report.