Chennai Metrowater and the Chennai Corporation will soon coordinate to access each other's database to cut down on revenue loss due to unassessed properties.
An official of Metrowater said, “We have asked the Corporation authorities to allow us to feed information in their intranet database about those consumers who seek new connections. This will help expedite the process of property tax assessment.”
It would also save consumers time as the process of assessment would begin with Metrowater informing the Corporation. At present, some of the consumers obtain water and sewer connection by making an advance payment of tax before the property is assessed by the civic body. Metrowater charges an advance tax of Rs.3,000 for each dwelling, the official said. Every year, the water agency provides about 10,000 to 13,000 new water and sewer connections.
Some consumers continue to pay only the water and sewerage charges and not the tax. This initiative is being taken to have a uniform system of property tax assessment, the official said.
For Metrowater, the coordination would give access to details of the newly assessed properties, those that have undergone changes in the annual rental value and categories and additional floor space index. A unique reference number would be given to consumers to facilitate the Corporation to assess the property.
Earlier, such data was obtained from the civic body once in two months, the official said.
A Corporation official said sharing information with Metrowater would help prevent revenue loss as about 10-20 per cent of the consumers initially avoid assessment. It would also minimise the time lag in assessing the property.
“We are making modifications in our system to enable Metrowater authorities to make entry of the new connections. Access would be provided to them in a month,” the official said.
