CUTTACK: Shortage of tax collectors is said to be the reason behind the fall in revenue collection of Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC), with only 18 currently employed for collecting various tax from 59 wards.
The post of recovery officer (Asul Adhikari) has also been laying vacant for the last four years resulting in huge amount of pending(in crores) unpaid taxes, fees and rents including holding tax, hording tax, licence renewal fee, shop rent, etc. Even the amount of unpaid taxes, fees and rent are yet to be ascertained by the CMC authorities.
With a view to increase the revenue, the civic body had a recovery officer who used to issue notice to defaulters and collect the arrears from them within a fixed period. If necessitated, the officer also initiated legal action against them under Orissa Public Demand Recovery (OPDR) Act, 1962 to the extent of attaching their properties.
Sources said, after retirement of the officer in 2018, a new appointment is yet to be made by the Housing and Urban Development department as a result of which the post has been lying vacant for the last four years. While the civic body had collected highest revenue to the tune Rs 49 crore in 2019-20 financial year, the amount fell to Rs 23 crore and Rs 21.7 crore respectively in 2020-21 and 2021-22.
However, CMC Deputy Commissioner Amiya Kumar Panda said that the civic body is engaging self help groups (SHGs) in collection of different taxes, rents and fees. “We have already empanelled as many as 78 women SHGs for collection of taxes, rents and fees from the 59 wards. We will provide necessary training to them along with a standard operating procedure (SOP) very soon following which they will start working,” said Panda. The SHGs will be paid on the basis of their performance. They will get 2 per cent commission towards collection up to Rs 30 lakh, 3 per cent up to Rs 50 lakh and 5 per cent above Rs 50 lakh, he said.