Mumbai: Citizens oppose 2 per cent property tax penalty over delayed bills

The BMC is yet to meet its target of property tax collection for fiscal 2020-21. Representation pic

While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) earned R415.85 crore in property tax on the last collection day of 2020-21 on March 8, many citizens are yet to pay as they claim to have received the bills very late. People have also objected to the 2 per cent penalty that is being levied every month on the pending amounts.

The total amount collected by the civic body for the current financial year is Rs 3,486 crore, hardly 67 per cent of the target collection of Rs 5,200 crore. However, civic administration said they were making continuous efforts to achieve the target.

Officials from the civic body's Accessor and Collector department have once again appealed to citizens to pay their property tax at the earliest in order to avoid the penalty. They said that actions like disconnection of water supply, confiscation and attachment of movable property could be avoided if the taxes were paid in time.

"Even after reminders if people don't pay the taxes then action is taken in terms of disconnecting the property. In the next stage, movable property will be confiscated or attached," said a civic official.

Since the last financial year, the BMC has been taking action like confiscating movable property like two-wheelers, four-wheelers, various types of vehicles, TVs, fridges and ACs. If the arrears are not recovered within five days of confiscating the items, arrangements are made to collect the outstanding amounts through public auction.