Dharwad: The Hubballi-Dharwad Municipal Corporation (HDMC) has collected Rs. 16 Crore as tax in the last 20 days after the demonetisation of high-value currency, HDMC Commissioner Siddalingaiah Hiremath has said.
Replying to a query by Yasin Haveripeth, Councillor, at the general body meeting here on Wednesday, Hiremath said that before demonetisation, only 40 per cent of the tax collection target had been met. As tax payers were allowed to use old currency, there had been a hike in collection.
Disclosing the list of tax collection, Hiremath stated that the HDMC had collected property tax to the tune of Rs 8.18 Crore, stallage fee Rs 1.60 Crore, property tax through cheque Rs 70 Lakh, water cess Rs 2.30 Crore in Hubballi and Rs 1.40 Crore in Dharwad. Now, the HDMC has extended the period of paying taxes through old Rs 500 currency notes till December 15 and the tax amount is likely to swell even more, he added.
Nearly 40 per cent of the shopkeepers had not paid their taxes and now 150 were visiting the HDMC to pay their pending taxes in instalments, he said. The remaining defaulters have been told to pay up by December 15. “The HDMC had set a target to collect Rs. 9 Crore as stallage fee, of which Rs. 3 Crore had been collected so far and the remaining is expected to be collected in a fortnight,” he said.
Some of the shop-keepers who had maintained huge outstandings were given notices and their shops have been locked. He further said that 700 shop keepers had rented out their shops to others and notices had been issued to them to vacate the shops. If they failed to do so, the HDMC would be seizing such shops, the commissioner warned.
Members, irrespective of their party affiliations, condemned HDMC officials for not carrying out works on filling potholes. Lower cadre officials had not been cooperating with senior officials and directions from the commissioner had not been heeded to, they said.
The meeting also decided to waive the interest charged on pending water bills to help the poor. Hiremath said the HDMC would waive the interest levied on pending water bills and the people might now pay only the water cess.
Mayor Manjula Akkur chaired the meeting.
