Thirteen corporators elected to Bhopal Municipal Corporation (BMC) owe the civic body Rs 1.11 crore in over due taxes. BMC has been on a drive to recover overdues from defaulters by auctioning their properties.
In some instances, properties are facing auction within 21-days for dues are no more than Rs 25,000. However, a property listed to a corporators, have yet to come under the e-auction hammer. Overall due linked to 85 corporators is close to Rs 2.5 crore. It does not include properties in the names of the spouses and family members.
Top defaulters include, BJP, Congress and one independent member of the BMC council. BMC revenue wing officials when contacted refrained from commenting on the matter.
When contacted, Sheela Patidar’s husband, Rambabu said, “Ward 52 encompasses a number of rural properties. Around 200 people have been served e-auction notices. It is not a fair situation since in some cases, tax due is more than the worth of the property itself.” When asked about six properties linked to Sheela Patidar which have tax overdue of Rs 3.59 lakh he said, “I will look into the matter.”
The naming of properties which are defaulters include retired citizens and widows. The move has been initiated by the BMC to recover taxes of linked to property, water and Swach tax. In the instance of Bhopal mayor, Malti Rai a commercial property linked to her name after January 2, has an increased tax overdue for the current year.
It increased from Rs 10,021 (commercial license fee) to Rs 14872. The calculations on the BMC portal are often miscalculated. Mayor’s cess increase should have been 6% with a discount of Rs 505.
Current online payment system used by the BMC has major flaws which includes exposing private details of individual without the need for a password.