Mumbai Police in tax defaulters’ list, owe Rs 14 crore to BMC……..Stuti Shukla
While the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is yet to receive property tax dues amounting to crores of rupees from various defaulters, it has come to light that Mumbai Police, with around 90 police stations and several residential staff quarters in the city, have not paid propert tax— around Rs 14 crore— they owe to the civic body so far. As on the end of the financial year of 2009-2010, the police department has failed to pay property tax dues amounting to Rs 14.43 crore.
The assessment and collection department of the BMC, which collects property tax from as many as 40 lakh private, government and semi-government properties in the city, is one of the main revenue earning departments of the civic body. Officials of the department said apathy and lack of accountability results in non-payment of property tax for government-owned land.
A senior official of the department said despite sending several notices, Mumbai Police failed to pay the dues. “One would expect enforcers of the law to abide by it. But the apathy from the police department is unacceptable. They have failed to pay dues despite a considerable portion of land on which police stations and staff quarters are located is civic-owned,” he said.
Of the total amount, Rs 5.6 crore is due for land belonging to the state government, railways and the Mumbai Port Trust, while the rest of the amount is due for tax on property on land owned by the BMC. The highest defaulting amount is from G south ward where the police owe dues amounting to Rs 2.58 crore. The total due from the island city is Rs.165.93 crore, while dues from western suburbs and eastern suburbs amount to Rs 3.13 cr and Rs 3.19 cr respectively.
When contacted, Mumbai Police Commissioner Sanjeev Dayal said, “We have written to the state asking it to sanction the amount. Whenever we get the money from the government, we will pay the dues. We give free services in terms of protection to the BMC. We should not be blamed for apathy,” said Dayal.