House tax collection going slow

North Corpn house tax dept asked to rectify it

Though the funds-starved North Corporation is in red, the civic agency is slack in collecting house tax from properties under its limits.

Some people are trying to deposit their house tax amounting to lakhs but officials are not willing to accept it.

Chairman of North Delhi Municipal Corporation Mohan Prasad Bhardwaj raised the issue at the civic agency’s standing committee. “I know a man who is willing to pay Rs 2 lakh as house tax for the past couple of years. But officials are not accepting the amount,” said Bhardwaj.

“Why can’t we expedite the process of collecting house tax? The civic agency doesn’t even have money to pay salaries to its employees,” he added.

Even the opposition councilors echoed similar concerns. “The house tax department should take the issue seriously as the corporation doesn’t have funds,” said Leader of Opposition Mukesh Goel of Congress.

Councillors of both the ruling and opposition parties said that the civic agency should also regulate weekly markets. “Only 100 or 150 people buy receipts for selling their goods in such markets whereas the number of street vendors run thousands at a particular market,” said a councillor from Peera Garhi, Prithvi Singh Rathore. “The civic agency should deploy officials to do regular inspection of such areas.”

Municipal commissioner P K Gupta said that the North Corporation needs Rs 200 crore a month to pay salaries and other benefits to its over 70,000 employees.

The North Delhi Mayor Ravinder Gupta has convened a special House meeting of the civic agency on Monday to find discuss its financial woes.

Even the East Delhi Municipal Corporation is cash deprived and depended on the funds from the city government to perform its basic functions.

The East Corporation requires Rs 100 crore a month to pay salaries to its personnel. While the South Delhi Municipal Corporation is self-sufficient and generate enough cash to carry on its obligatory functions.