Centre owes GHMC Rs. 371.2 cr in property taxes; SCR highest defaulter

Hyderabad: The Central government properties and its undertakings owe around Rs. 371.2 crores as property tax to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC), said D.S Lokesh Kumar, the GHMC commissioner, in an RTI reply filed by the Forum for Good Governance.

The Central government properties owe around Rs. 281.48 crores while the Central government undertakings owe around Rs. 89.72 crores. In his reply, the GHMC commissioner said he is regularly pursuing the matter by issuing demand notices but the heads of various departments are unmoved.

The Central government properties such as South Central Railway (SCR) owe the highest, Rs. 172 crores, property tax for around nine years. Besides SCR, the biggest defaulters are Central Public Works Department (CPWD) which owes Rs. 26.84 crores for over 11 years, Defence organisations (DLRL, DMRL, DRDO, DRDL Apollo Hospital) which owe around Rs. 10.68 crores, the Central Research Institute of Unani Medicine which owes Rs. 7.48 crores for over 25 years, and the Central Detective Training Institute(CDTI) which owes Rs. 5.31 crores for over seven years.

The Central government undertaking properties such as BSNL owes Rs. 36.58 crore for over six years, HMT Lamp Division which owes Rs. 30.16 crore over seven years, and SBI/BoB which owes around Rs. 8.71 crores.

The revenue to local bodies mainly comes from taxes. Property tax levied by the GHMC on properties owned by citizens is regularly paid by them. In April 2022, the GHMC announced the "Early bird" scheme providing a 5% rebate on taxes paid in April. There was a tremendous response from people. As against the target of Rs. 600 crores, close to Rs. 750 crores were collected.

"This shows that as law-abiding citizens, they are paying taxes so that GHMC can provide them with civic amenities. When it comes to payment of taxes on government properties, the government is not paying the due taxes and is setting a bad example," said M. Padmanabha Reddy, the secretary of the Forum for Good Governance.

TS property tax dues

It should be mentioned that the Telangana government owes around Rs. 5258 crores in property tax to the GHMC. An amount of Rs. 306 crores in property tax are due from state government undertakings. The amounts are pending from one to 25 years.

The Telangana State Medical Department owes the highest amount of Rs. 1185.18 crores in property tax, pending for over 23 years. Apart from the medical department, the Prohibition and Excise departments, which provides Rs. 35,000 crores annually, has dues of Rs. 895 crores for 21 years. The police department has dues of Rs. 420 crores for about 12 years and the education department Rs. 385 crores for 16 years.

The government undertaking bodies such as HMWSSB owes around Rs. 70 crores over four years, while TSSPDCL owes around Rs. 47.19 crores over four years, and sports stadiums in the city owe around Rs. 58.44 crores for over nine years.