COIMBATORE: Many eyebrows went up after the Coimbatore City Municipal Corporation (CCMC) on Tuesday evening released a list of 100 defaulters, mostly private education and healthcare institutions, who failed to pay a whopping Rs 20.99 crores as property tax.
The list released by the corporation comprised the top 20 defaulters in each of the five zones and contained data on the amount of property tax they had to pay.
Speaking to The New Indian Express, Corporation Commissioner P Kumaravel Pandian said, "Very little time is being offered to the top 20 defaulters in each zone to clear their dues. If it's not cleared, we will disconnect the drinking water supply lines to the defaulters in the first phase. Secondly, we will seize movable properties from them."
Asked how and why the defaulters had failed to pay the property tax for so many years, Kumaravel claimed it could be due to various reasons. He, however, assured that the corporation would retrieve all the pending dues from them at the earliest. A deadline of nearly a week has been given to the defaulters to settle the dues, he added.
Corporation sources said most defaulters in the list of top 20 in each zone are big institutions. The civic body is well aware that there are several defaulters who fail to pay the property tax, said sources, adding that the assessment number itself clearly shows how much amount they must pay to the CCMC.
Activists from the city have flayed the corporation for going soft on the defaulters, which include big institutions.
SP Thiyagarajan, an activist, said, "There is a huge difference in how the city corporation is handling the defaulters. When the common man fails to pay property tax, the civic body comes down hard on him by disconnecting the water supply. Why can't the corporation do the same to large institutions who are also taxpayers?"
He went on to add that not forcing the defaulters to pay the tax had forced the CCMC to depend on loans to start a welfare scheme for the public. "The corporation must not discriminate against defaulters based on influence. A drive must be mooted to retrieve all the pending dues from the defaulters," Thiyagarajan added.
Defaulter details:
East zone- Rs 5.66 crores
West zone- Rs 1 crore
South zone- Rs 2.14 crores
North zone- Rs 4.58 crores
Central zone- Rs 7.59 crores
Total- Rs 20.99 crores
Source: CCMC