Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has served notices to owners of 52,787 properties not registered with the tax department.
The properties were identified during the ongoing property assessment survey carried out by the civic body. A senior PCMC official said that the owners of 4,261 properties have paid their pending dues after they were served notices, and their properties are now registered with the civic body’s tax department.
The municipal officials have identified over 2 lakh properties across the city that are not registered with the tax department. The civic officials started sending notices to the owners of these properties, and they have been urged to register their objections with the municipal corporation, if any.”A total of 22,582 property owners have registered their objections to the notices so far. We have issued final bills to 16,953 of them after receiving necessary documents,” a senior PCMC official said.
The civic body has completed the process of geo-sequencing 8.55 lakh properties across the city, while the internal measurement of 5.32 lakh of these properties is also completed. Earlier in July this year, the municipal corporation also started a drone survey to identify the unassessed properties in its jurisdiction.
“We have provided a QR Code on the special notice-1 served to property owners, using which they can register their objections online with the municipal corporation,” municipal commissioner Shekhar Singh said. The civic body has also made provisions to conduct online hearings on these objections. Citizens can raise objections within 21 days of receiving the notice.
A senior PCMC official said that among the objections the civic body received from citizens so far include not acceptance of the tax amount, incorrect address, name or mobile number, and email ID mentioned with the property details.
Currently, there are a total of 6.3 lakh properties registered with PCMC, and the civic body had earned Rs 977 crore, the highest collection in its history through property tax in financial year 2023-24. Once all these properties identified during the ongoing property assessment survey are brought under the tax ambit, the civic body’s annual tax revenue is likely to reach Rs 1,500 crore, said a PCMC official.
“Property owners can avail various discounts by paying their tax dues online within three months of receiving the notice. We urge citizens to also avail our online facility to upload necessary documents and not visit our offices physically to submit them,” Avinash Shinde, assistant municipal commissioner and head of PCMC’s property tax department, said.
