The final collection of property tax by GVMC for 2013-14 touched Rs.144.32 crore against a demand of Rs.170.39 crore. The collection that was Rs.142.65 crore by Monday evening, notched up another Rs.1.67 crore by midnight. Against this year’s collectible demand of Rs. 143.38 crore, the collection was Rs.122.07 crore leaving a balance of Rs.21.31 crore. While the collectible arrears of the previous year stood at Rs.26.67 crore, the efforts of GVMC helped in realising Rs.22.25 crore.
The total balance that remained uncollected after March 31 stands at Rs.25.73 crore, slightly lower than the previous year’s arrears.
Expressing satisfaction over the tax collection in spite of several hurdles, Municipal Commissioner M.V. Satyanarayana announced rewards for the revenue staff of the GVMC and asked zone commissioners to forward names to him.
He said though the staff members were on strike for more than two months during the Samaikyandhra agitation, once the collection drive started they worked hard right from morning to night irrespective of whether it’s a holiday or Sunday. Awards would also be given to the sanitation staff.
VLT lags behindHowever, the collection of vacant land tax (VLT) lagged much behind the target. Against a demand of Rs.76.94 crore, the collection during the year was Rs.8.2 crore.
Zone I comprising the in-demand Madhurawada area, however, realised a collection of just Rs.4.22 crore against a demand of a massive Rs.26.91 crore.
Bheemunipatnam topped with 96.03 per cent collecting Rs.2.73 crore of Rs.2.84 crore demand followed by Anakapalle (92.11) per cent realising Rs.5.06 crore against a demand of Rs.5.49 crore. However, the assessments in the two areas, recently included in GVMC, are quite less with 12,294 and 18,359 properties respectively.
Zone II that should bring the maximum of revenue with a collectible demand of Rs.52.13 crore fell short by collecting Rs.42.16 crore, a mere 80.89 per cent.
Zone V that comprises Gajuwaka, Jnanapuram, and Malkapuram areas accounts for the maximum assessments of 86,416 collected Rs.29.47 crore against a demand of Rs. 34.06 crore. Zone I accounted for 88.94 per cent (collectible demand Rs. 8.5 crore), Zone III (84.63 per cent, Rs.32.53 crore); Zone IV (89.72 per cent, Rs.26.9 crore) and Zone VI (88.87 per cent, Rs.7.57 crore).
