I-T dept freezes BBMP accounts

Already in the lurch due to financial crunch, the Bruhat Bangalore Mahanagara Palike found itself in an embarrassing situation when the Income Tax Department froze all its 40 bank accounts.

The I-T department took action against the BBMP for not depositing the amount relating to the Tax Deducted at Source (TDS), which the Palike deducts from the salaries of its officers and employees.

“For the last three days, we don't have a bank account to manage our finances due to the action. We have not made any payment in the last three days to anybody nor did we get information about funds being deposited in these accounts,” said a source in the BBMP.
According to the information received, the BBMP was supposed to deposit Rs 31.50 crore to the I-T department for the money deducted from the salaries and payments to the contractors under the TDS in the last one year.

As the Palike has now come under duress, it has to clear its dues. However, it is learnt that the Palike has presently only Rs two crore in its account, which is way too insufficient to get rid of the new problem surfaced before it.

The BBMP commissioner was unavailable for comment on this issue.

More humiliation

If this humiliation was insufficient for the BBMP, a trusted hotel owner too betrayed it due to the non-payment of his dues. Sources said the Palike would order tea, coffee and snacks from this hotel near the BBMP head office for the last many years. However, the service is now stopped as the Palike did not clear the dues of Rs eight lakh to the hotelier.
DH News Service