Rs 24 crore tax collected from Mahadevapura zone in a day

In a record of sorts, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike collected Rs 24.01 crore as property tax from Mahadevapura zone on a single day on Wednesday.

Leading the tax collection drive, BBMP Commissioner G Kumar Naik took to the streets of Mahadevapura zone following complaints that there are major property tax defaulters.

The drive started from Phoenix Mall, from where the Palike collected a tax of Rs 1.7 crore for the current fiscal. The manager of the Mall came forward and handed over the cheque to the Commissioner.

Major revenue came from the Bagmane Tech Park and the RMZ Mall, which fetched the Palike Rs 6.39 crore and Rs 6.28 crore respectively. Salarpuria Builders paid Rs 2 crore where as GE India Technologies coughed up Rs 1.26 crore. The Embassy Tech Village paid Rs 1.4 crore. Other major tax payers were Shanthi Nikethan, Zury Hotel, Brand Factory, K Sai Rani, Krupanidhi College and Tesco.

The BBMP Commissioner said the drive would intensify in all the eight zones of the BBMP in the coming days and nobody will be spared.

Focus on Mahadevapura
As the Administrator T M Vijay Bhaskar and the Commissioner themselves monitored the tax collection drive in Mahadevapura, they also took note of the garbage disposal system and the ongoing public works.

Later, they held a meeting with the zonal level officials and directed them to heed to the public grievances on a priority basis and solve them on the spot, instead of driving them to the head office.

The BBMP Commissioner said more powers may be given to zonal level officers to discharge their duties in an effective manner.

The two senior bureaucrats directed the Mahadevapura zonal officials to check garbage disposal between 6 am and 8 am and inspect public works between 8 am and 10 am. They told the zonal officials to meet the Residents Welfare Associations between 10.30 am and 1.30 pm and from 3.30 pm to 5.30 pm they should listen to the public grievances.