CHITTOOR: Chittoor Municipal Corporation (CMC) has recovered pending taxes to the tune of Rs 1 crore from defaulters in the past two months. Civic body chief J Aruna has been focusing on taking up various development works in the civic body and had organised a series of meetings with revenue inspectors and instructed them to short-list defaulters in the civic body.
So far, officials have identified the top 100 defaulters in all 50 divisions of the corporation. Since then CMC has been serving red notices to defaulters to collect pending property tax dues. It may be noted that these defaulters are mostly owners of hotels, private educational institutions, granite industries, showrooms and commercial establishments in Corporation limits.
“Revenue generated from taxes are major resources for providing basic amenities in the civic body limits. As a responsibility, people should pay their dues and support the civic body. Measures have been taken for collecting pending tax from the defaulters during the special drive. Stern action would be initiated against those who fail to pay tax. Buildings will also be seized after warnings are not abided by,” Aruna said.
A union of 14 villages
Chittoor was first constituted as a Grade-III municipality in 1917 and was upgraded to Grade II in 1950, Grade-I in 1965, Special Grade in 1980 and then to Selection Grade in 2000. It was upgraded to a corporation on September 7, 2012.
Over 40% hike in tax collections
According to the data, the civic body has collected Rs 1,313.73 lakh (44.20 %) of around Rs 2,974.59 lakh from April 1 to December 18. While the collections for the last year during the same period was Rs 804.91 lakh.