Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) is out to auction some 900 private properties of its top defaulters list of 85 wards 21-days after a notice is served.
The move comes as the civic body aims to increase revenue and recover dues through the city. In spite of the pandemic, BMC has increased its revenue collection in the last three years.
“Notices are first being issued under Section 173 of the MP Municipal Corporation Act, 1956 to recover pay property tax or water tax. If the property owner does not deposit the tax, within three weeks of the issue of the auction notice, the corporation becomes free to take action under Sections 175-178 (action the property),” said BMC commissioner, KVS Choudary.
Senior Congress leader and MLA PC Sharma said, “Pandemic has had a dire impact on people’s livelihood. Some are barely able to make ends meet. Where will these people stay if BMC auctions their homes too. There has to be a sympathetic approach to tax recovery.” Former MLA and BJP state executive committee member, Dhruvnarayan Singh, said, “There has to be equity is tax collection.” He hinted at one part of the new parts of the city paying more tax than the other.
Under three years of administrative control without an elected council, BMC increased its revenue and taxes too. Water cess was increased to Rs 300 per month for properties more than 2400 sq feet.
BMC aims to collect around Rs 10 crore from the first phase of the drive.
Undelivered or back date signatures on BMC notices: For most who have been served notices, a batch command from zone officer says November 1 – for notice issued. BMC has a list of SMS number for contact, but none of the defaulters received an SMS. In some instances, the notice was backdated by local ward officer, by over a week. BMC ward and zone officers remain defiant and inflexible to help.
SAP system, online payment not user friendly: The service ID number used on BMC property tax collection notices is vastly different from online identification numbers. SAP was introduced around 2015 by the BMC for online monitoring of cess collection.
Around 4.5 lakh properties have been geo-tagged. However, the simple task of payment online still connects to an online portal which is hard to navigate. Major banks from the online payment option are missing. There is no number to call for support.
