The urban administration department has issued notices to commissioners and chief municipal officers of 147 urban bodies in the state for poor collection of wealth and water tax, officials said on Thursday.
Director, Urban Administration, Dr Rohit Yadav said that the department had directed the officers of all the urban bodies to increase the tax collection by 20 per cent. However, 147 urban bodies failed to meet the target. Rather, the output of several urban bodies came down against what they achieved last year, he said. “This is why show cause notices have been issued to such urban bodies,” he said. In case the reply submitted by them is found unsatisfactory, action would be taken against them, he said.
The Urban administration had held a review meeting related to tax collection on April 5. During the review it was found that the collection of tax has seen a decline in 2013-2014, against the collection the urban bodies made in the previous year.
Yadav said, “The performance by some urban bodies was highly objectionable and it was a clear cut violation of the instruction issued by the department.” He said that the department has issued show cause notices to the commissioners and chief municipal officers of 147 urban bodies and asked them to reply within seven days.
The 147 urban bodies which have been served notices include Durg, Rajnandgaon, Bhatapara, Balodabazar and many others in Raipur divisional area. Among the bodies served notice in Bastar divisional area are Jagdalpur, Kondagaon and others.
There are at least 64 urban bodies which have performed below what they achieved last year. They include Raipur Municipal Corporation. A notice has been served to its commissioner, he said. The Raipur Municipal Corporation has collected about Rs 15 cr less tax than what it collected in the previous year. Similarly, the collection was 1.34 cr less in Durg, 27 lakh less in Chirmiri and 20 lakh less
in Sarangarh.