JOIN USContinuing their drive against property tax defaulters, the chairperson and members of BBMP’s standing committee on taxation and finance locked up a few shops in the Kids Kemp building on Kempegowda Road for not paying tax arrears of about Rs five crore.
The action was met with serious resistance from the traders who had a verbal duel with the standing committee chairperson Dr Shivaprasad and other members. Their contention was that they were only tenants and the owners were some others.
They said they should not be punished for the shopowners’ fault. The taxation and finance committee members did not buy the argument.
Prasad said the traders owe a tax of Rs 2.47 crore and a penalty of Rs 2.53 crore. He said, “We are empowered under the Karnataka Municipal Corporation Act to attach the property, lock it up and seize the immovable properties.”
He directed the BBMP joint commissioner of East Zone to disconnect water and electricity supply to shops defaulting property tax. The committee members also served notice on Mantri Developers for encroaching on the footpath and other utilities for its Mantri Mall.
Jan 30 deadline
Mayor B S Satyanarayana on Tuesday set another deadline of January 30 for the CNR Rao Junction underpass, which has already missed many deadlines.
During the inspection, Satyanarayana took the contractor to task for not conforming to the timeline. He said the underpass should be ready before the Metro Rail Reach-3 is completed. He also pulled up the BMRCL and BBMP officials for the poor state of a park near the soap factory junction. The boundary wall of the park was demolished by BMRCL to build its rail infrastructure. After the boundary wall was demolished, people started using the park as a parking lot.