BENGALURU: Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) Commissioner B H Anil Kumar on Friday admitted before the Council that a resurvey of properties was not done after self-assessment of properties. There are many loopholes in this scheme which need to be corrected, he said, adding that though there is a provision for random sampling, it has not been done.
Addressing councillors, Kumar said: “I have not given powers to joint commissioners to undertake re-assessment of properties. They are following orders of previous commissioners. There is a need to correct tax anomalies. Also, property taxes have not been revised since five years, and we have proposed to the government to link tax to guidance value, which is revised annually.
Orders have also been issued for 100% reassessment of all commercial properties, apartments, villas, row houses etc.” He assured the councillors that a report will be submitted on taxes collected and properties evaluated, and another survey would be done. Hotels and restaurants were paying taxes under the old scheme, due to which BBMP was losing revenue, Kumar added.
Mayor M Goutham Kumar said that directions have been issued to officials to prepare a report of all properties in BBMP limits. Shockingly, so far only 10 lakh properties are in the BBMP tax net, and 10-12 lakh property owners have not paid taxes.
Uproar over garbage cess
Councillors complained to the Mayor and commissioner that the government was issuing a gazette notification on Rs 200 as garbage cess per home, when the Covid19 crisis has affected everyone. The Mayor said that people have to pay garbage cess only from July.
Ready for rain
Kumar said that tenders have been called for tree canopy management. So far, priority was given to clearing trees fallen on roads, then transporting them to vacant sites to dispose of the logs. Water-logging points have been identified and this year, only three flooding cases were reported so far.