AAP accuses BJP of corruption in tax collection system

Court-constituted Monitoring Committee report reveals that civic bodies in the capital were able to collect only 5 per cent tax because of corruption by its councillors.
Image used for representational purpose only. ( Express Illustrations
Image used for representational purpose only. ( Express Illustrations

NEW DELHI: In yet another allegation against the BJP-ruled MCDs, AAP municipal corporation in-charge Durgesh Pathak has cited a recent Supreme Court-constituted Monitoring Committee report to reveal that civic bodies in the capital were able to collect only 5 per cent tax because of corruption by its councillors.

The Monitoring Committee was formed to identify unauthorised structures and check misuse of properties.
The AAP senior leader claimed that the BJP collects taxes from only 2,300 of the 14,000 properties, resulting in a loss of Rs 16,000 crore for the corporations. There are 8,486 properties in South MCD from which arrears worth Rs 1,200 crore have to be recovered, but the corporation has only collected Rs 70 crore. However, the corporations can recover about Rs 6,000 crore from property tax, but it is collecting merely 5-10 per cent of the arrears, and the rest of the money is squandered at the hands of BJP councillors and leaders.

“If timely action had been taken by the BJP to collect penalties for the violation of regulations, it would have made the MCDs self-sufficient. The SC Monitoring Committee’s report has exposed BJP’s 15-year long misgovernance and incompetence. The BJP must take accountability for the findings of this report and explain where the money was squandered. The skewed manner in which the BJP has tried to retain power in the MCD for a while should be stopped and immediate, free and fair elections must be held,” said Durgesh Pathak.

Elaborating on the findings of the report, he continued, “This report states some clear examples. It is noted that there are 14,000 properties from which penalties are to be collected, out of which the MCD only completed 2,300 collections amounting to Rs 730 crore. If all the 14,000 penalties are collected, the MCD will be able to source over Rs 5,000 crore, but the rest of the money is being wasted away.”

He said, “There is tremendous potential of recovery of penalties if timely action had been taken by the MCD. Recovery of these would have made the MCD self-sufficient. It goes on to say that lack of timely action has also taken a toll on infrastructure, increased traffic, and affected the environment of Delhi as well.

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