More than 100 establishments, including factories, malls and houses, were sealed over the past week for failing to clear property tax dues. Barring 10 establishments, others cleared their dues and the sealing was removed.
Notably, the Ghaziabad Municipal Corporation (GMC) recovered Rs 4.65 crore from the defaulters. Officials said there were many that had not paid their dues for around four to five years. Earlier, the civic body had given an ultimatum to defaulters for clearing the dues.
Chief tax assessment officer Sanjeev Kumar Sinha said, “The special sealing drive has the desired effect on defaulters. As soon as the lock is put on an establishment, its owner agrees to clear the dues fearing monetary losses. The drive will be intensified in the coming days.”
“The 10 defaulters from whose establishments sealing have not been removed owe around Rs 3 crore. We are hopeful that they would clear the dues soon. The special drive will continue till March 31, and afterwards, a 12% interest will be imposed,” Sinha added.
Officials informed that out of the five zones of the civic body, the maximum number of the sealings has been done in Vasundhara followed by Kavi Nagar. A total amount of Rs 120.11 crore has been received this fiscal against the target of Rs 188 crore.
The biggest recovery was made from Angel Mall in Kaushambi, which owed Rs 1.36 crore to the GMC, Sinha added.
Earlier, as many as 1,627 big defaulters, who owe the civic body Rs 50,000 or more in the property taxes, were issued demand notices to make payments within 15 days or face attachment of their properties. Altogether, they owe Rs 35 crore in property taxes.
Besides, several central and state government bodies including the Railways, Delhi Metro Rail Corporation, telecom department, Ghaziabad Development Authority, ESI hospital, post office, police, commercial tax department, additional labour commissioner department owe Rs 15 crore to the civic body.
Sinha said correspondence with the government bodies is on and they have assured to clear the dues in March after receiving the funds from the government.
