VIJAYAWADA: Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) stood as the top defaulter of property tax to the Municipal Administration department. Out of all the Rs 89.89 crore odd to be collected from top 100 property tax defaulters across the State, the share of the TTD along stood at a whopping Rs 24.28 crore.
While TTD authorities say that they don’t need to pay taxes as they are spending crores of rupees for taking up various development works in the temple town of Tirupati, officials of the Municipal Administration department argue that they are charging tax only on those properties through which TTD is generating revenue.
An official of the Municipal Administration and Urban Development (MAUD) said that they had prepared the list of top 100 defaulters. “If the TTD provides free accommodation like choultries, we will not levy any tax. But, what is wrong in collecting tax from TTD, which is collecting rents and even hiring some rooms in the Tourism department guest houses for generating revenue,” an official of the department pointed out.
However, the argument of the TTD officials is different. They maintain that as they are taking up several development programmes in the temple town of Tirupati like maintaining roads and spending hundreds of crores for other projects, there is no need for them to pay the tax.The remaining major tax defaulters includes: Nelcast Industries (`3.79 crore) in Gudur, CJM Main Mill Factory (`3.73 crore) RIMS Superintendent (Kadapa) `2.37 crore, FCI Private in Sattenapalle (`1.88 crore), VUDA, Vizianagaram (`1.81 crore).