The Bareilly Municipal Corporation (BMC) is gearing up to launch a massive crackdown against defaulters of house, water and sewer taxes. BMC officials said initially, they would target 20 big defaulters each in 80 wards whose arrears are to the tunes of lakhs of rupee.
According to information from the BMC tax department, the civic body has identified around 10,000 big and small tax defaulters, including commercial and residential, across the city and has initiated the process of issuing notices to them. Their properties would be sealed if they failed to clear the taxes, officials said.
BMC chief tax officer Lalatesh Kumar Saxena said, “The process of identifying big tax defaulters having arrears in lakhs of rupees is currently underway. We are targeting 20 such defaulters in each ward. We have also initiated the process of serving notices, warning them that their properties will be sealed, if they fail to pay their dues at the earliest. We have to recover a collectively arrear of around Rs 40 crore from defaulters by March-end.”
Zonal officer, BMC tax department, Vipin Kuldeep said, “Around 10,000 tax defaulters (big and small) have been identified across the city, including commercials establishments such as restaurants, hotels, showrooms, godowns, shops, salons, cinema halls, residential properties, among others. Their properties have tax arrears ranging from Rs 1 lakh to Rs 15 lakh.”
Saxena added, “With the department gearing up to take action, defaulters have started clearing their dues, but most of them are yet not paying any heed to our warning. A few of them have paid initial amount. Last week, around Rs 30 lakh was recovered. The drive will be intensified by four teams comprising six members each.”
According to BMC sources, the taxes are main source of income for the civic body, and thus, the recovery of taxes is important. Non-payment of taxes hits maintenance and development works severely.
According to rules, BMC initially generates bills and sends it to defaulters, ssking payment of taxes within 15 days. In case of non-payment within the stipulated time, a demand notice is served and an additional 15 days is granted. However, if defaulters fail to pay their dues, the process of attachment of their property is initiated, according to BMC officials.
