The Aurangabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) has decided to waive off Rs 257.25 crore under the amnesty scheme towards recovery of the property tax.
Coinciding with its anniversary, the AMC on Wednesday announced 75% waiver on delayed payment charges for one-time settlement of the property tax by the defaulters. The amnesty scheme, which is applicable to dues towards property tax till end of March this year, is valid till the end of February 2022.
Aparna Thete, in-charge of the AMC’s tax collection department, said defaulters owe Rs 343 crore towards delayed payment charges of property tax, out of which around Rs 257 crore would be waived off under the amnesty scheme.
“The already slow tax recovery process lost momentum due to the pandemic situation. It was a collective decision to introduce the amnesty scheme and encourage citizens to pay their dues,” she said.
The local civic body is targeting a recovery of Rs 468 crore towards property tax by the end of the current fiscal. It had recovered over Rs 107 crore by the end of November.
Thete said all property holders have already received their property tax bills. “Unlike in past, we have ensured almost every citizen gets the bill. Citizens now have a fair idea about the dues and should pay the tax at the earliest,” she said.
Notably, the AMC earlier in 2018 and 2019 had announced the amnesty scheme for property tax defaulters which helped the civic body in improving the recovery to certain extent.
The civic administration, which has already started sealing properties of major defaulters, has warned of stern action if dues are not paid before the end of the amnesty scheme.
