Civic body asks government departments to pay up

With nearly Rs. 9 crore of property tax due from government agencies, for properties owned by various departments in the city, the Tiruchirapalli City Corporation has taken steps to recover the current and arrears due from them.

On Tuesday, Corporation Commissioner V.P. Thandapani convened a meeting of officers of various State and union government departments that owe money to the civic body to impress upon them to pay up quickly.

Apart from Rs. 6 crore of current demand, Rs. 3 crore of arrears in tax was due from the Union and State government departments in the city.

Mr. Thandapani clarified that union government departments have to pay service charges to the corporation as per the Supreme Court directive and union government circulars. He made it clear that exemption could not be given for government buildings which were vacant. If the departments concerned submitted written requests in this regard, action would be initiated as per rules. He appealed to the officers to seek financial allocations from their respective departments to pay up their dues. If they failed to do so, the corporation would take up the matter with the department heads or secretaries of the departments concerned, he said.