Delhi Transco leads property tax defaulters in east, says EDMC

The Delhi Transco, a power transmission company owned by the
city government, is the biggest property tax defaulter in east Delhi with arrears of over Rs 160 crore, said EDMC Standing Committee’s chairman Sanjay Surjan on
Thursday.

To tighten the noose on the tax defaulters, the East Delhi Municipal Corporation has also sealed bank accounts of six other public buildings, which collectively owe over Rs 26 crore.

“We have sent several notices to the properties but they never paid the tax,” said Surjan.

The institutions whose accounts have been attached includes the education department which has to pay over Rs 14 crore and Delhi Police training and public schools, which owe over Rs 7 crore to the civic agency.

Guru Teg Bahadur Hospital also has a due of over Rs 3 crore. Other tax defaulters are 46th Battalion and Vocational Rehabilitation Center for handicap which owe over Rs 60 lakh to the corporation.

The accounts of six other public institutions will be attached soon, said Surjan.
“We have sent notice to the properties. If they don’t respond within a week or two, we’ll seal their accounts too,” he added on Thursday.

The properties whose accounts will be attached included labour commissioner building, Directorate General of Health Services, Veterinary Hospitals, Lal Bahadur Shastri Hospital and Jagpravesh Chandra Hospital, which collectively owe around Rs 1 crore to the civic agency.

According to the document, the Delhi Transco Ltd owes Rs 1, 77,34,74,817 to the corporation.

If the civic agency succeeds in recovering the long-pending property taxes, it will be richer by over Rs 200 crore. The corporation will be able to start new welfare projects, Surjan added.

“We are hopeful of recovering the entire amount. We’ll be able to take up more welfare projects in our zones if we recover the amount,” he added.

Offices to remain open

To facilitate the property tax payers in filing ‘Self-assessment Property Return’ and depositing tax for the year 2013-14, the North Delhi Municipal Corporation has decided to keep open  all its property tax offices on Saturdays
and Sundays throughout March.

The drive will start on March 1 and continue till March 31. The offices will remain closed on March 9, the second Sunday of the month.

Timings of the office during the month will be from 10 am to 5:30 pm with lunch break from 1.30 pm to 2.00 pm.