COIMBATORE: With only a couple of days left for the financial year to end, the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) is struggling to meet its property tax collection target, with over Rs 170 crore still pending for 2025-26.
Out of the total target of Rs 666 crore, which includes Rs 530 crore for the current financial year and Rs 136 crore carried over from the previous year, the civic body has managed to collect only around Rs 498 crore so far across 100 wards. The city has nearly six lakh property tax payers.
Officials attributed the shortfall to multiple factors, including diversion of bill collectors for election-related duties such as voter list revision (SIR) and other duties. Sources also indicated that there was informal nudge to go easy on enforcement during the election period to avoid public dissatisfaction, which allegedly affected collection.
Despite routine reminders through phone calls and public announcements, the pace of tax recovery remained sluggish. With the financial year ending in a couple of days, officials admit that achieving the target now appears unlikely.
Concerns have also been raised over irregular practices, with some bill collectors allegedly accepting backdated cheques to inflate collection figures. To curb such practices and prevent cheque bounces, the government has allegedly instructed officials to stop accepting cheque payments.