Rs 13 crore sprint: Ludhiana MC races against clock to fill its coffers

Ludhiana: With only a few days left for the payment of property tax for this fiscal year, Ludhiana municipal corporation (MC) is yet to recover the tax amount from at least 1 lakh taxpayers. The officials have received over Rs 147 crore from the property tax collection against a total target of Rs 160 crore. However, the civic body officials are under constant pressure to meet their target because, for the officials, internal target is set to Rs 180 crore.In the past few years, the officials have exceeded in the property tax collection, but this year they are keeping their fingers crossed that they at least achieve the target set in the budget. For the next fiscal year, huge targets are set already.MC superintendent Vivek Verma, however, showed confidence that they will achieve their targets and recover the dues from as many taxpayers. He claimed that they have kept the MC offices open for the tax collection even on weekends and public holidays, and field staff is also trying hard, so hopefully they will recover the dues.Meanwhile, one of the MC officials claimed that last year there was one time settlement for the property tax defaulters of previous years, and due to that they had to leave interest and penalty on the tax amount; therefore, their revenue got affected. He said in the next fiscal year also there will be tough situation for the employees because, in the election year, staff is deputed on election duty, and in the month of April, special intensive revision (SIR) will also start in Punjab. He claimed even now employees are being issued show-cause notices for not completing their pre-SIR activity in the field. He shared that in next few months, census-related activities will also start and they can be deputed on the same as well.On the other hand, mayor Inderjit Kaur claimed that the civic body will achieve this year's target as well as the next year's target because they have fixed these annual targets after thorough discussion. She said the employees are putting efforts but public should also fulfill their duties and pay the tax in them so that they should spend it on the development works. Defaulters to pay 20% moreMayor Inderjit Kaur appealed to the residents to pay their dues including property tax and water-sewer bills in time to avoid penalty. The civic body officials stated that the residents will have to pay a 20% penalty and 18% annual interest, if they fail to pay property tax for the current financial year (2025-26) by March 31.