TS govt owes property tax of Rs.5258 Cr; Medical & Excise department are top defaulters
For its properties in Hyderabad, the Telangana State Government owes around Rs.5258 crores property tax to Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation(GHMC), the municipal corporation informed in an RTI reply filed by Forum for Good Governance.
By Sumit Jha Published on 16 May 2022 1:41 PM GMT
Hyderabad: Telangana government owes Rs.5258 crore property tax to the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
In an RTI reply, it was revealed that an amount of Rs. 306 crores property tax is due from State Government undertakings. The amount is pending for the last 25 years. The RTI was filed by Forum for Good Governance,
Telangana State Medical Department owes the highest amount of Rs. 1185.18 crores property tax. The amount is pending for over 23 years. In his reply, GHMC Commissioner said he is regularly pursuing the matter by issuing demand notices, but the department heads are unmoved.
Prohibition and Excise department, which provides revenue of Rs 35,000 crore annually, owes Rs. 895 crore for 21 years. Police department owes Rs. 420 crore and the Education department owes Rs. 385 crore. The amount is outstanding from 12 to 16 years.
Jails in the city have also not paid Rs 71.77 crore of a property tax for over 21 years. BRK Bhavan has pending dues of Rs 67 crore for over 21 years.
HMWSSB owes around Rs 70 crore for four years. TSSPDCL has outstanding dues of Rs 47.19 crore. Sports stadiums owe around RS 58.44 crore property tax for nine years.
The revenue to local bodies mainly comes from taxes. Tax levied by GHMC on the properties owned by citizens is regularly paid. In April 2022, GHMC announced the " Early bird " scheme providing a 5 percent rebate on taxes. There was a tremendous response from people. As against the target of Rs.600 crore, close to Rs. 750 crore was recovered.
"This shows that law-abiding citizens are paying taxes so that GHMC provides them civic amenities. The government is setting a bad example by not paying taxes. The government is virtually starving the GHMC, firstly by not paying taxes and secondly by not releasing funds as recommended by State Finance Commission. It hampers GHMC functioning and they not been able to provide basic civic needs," said M Padmanabha Reddy, Secretary, Forum for Good Governance.
He also requested the Chief Secretary to issue suitable instructions to HoDs and others to clear all the pending taxes of GHMC so they can provide basic civic amenities to people, especially in slum areas.
