The GHMC has mopped up a record Rs 634.31crore in property tax this year, a rise of almost Rs 150 crore over the previous year.
The corporation has gained a higher property tax collection this year primarily because it has brought Central government institutions like the railways, the BSNL, centralised banks, etc, in the ambit of the tax. In the previous years, contributions from Central government institutions were almost nil, as they had claimed that they would not pay property tax to the local bodies as central government institutions. However, this year the GHMC has brought them in the ambit of property tax.
The civic body could tap Rs 2.58 crore as service charges from the South Central Railway and Rs 2 crore as property tax from the BSNL. Several centralised banks have paid property tax for buildings situated in the corporation limits.
Of the four zones of the corporation, the central zone has contributed the highest property tax of Rs 277.46 crore, followed by the west zone ( Rs 113.70 crore), the north zone (`94.96 crore), the east zone (Rs 70.26 crore), and the south zone (`44.05 crore). The contributions from government buildings totalled Rs 20 crore and Rs 13.88 crore from Industrial Area Local Authorities (IALA). The entire collection stood at Rs 634.31 crore.
The DLF has become the highest tax payer of the corporation this year. For its giant building at Gachibowli, Hyderabad, the builder group has paid a whopping Rs 6 crore. The corporation is more successful in limiting the cheque-bounce cases this year, compared with the last year. Last year cheques had bounced for property tax estimated at Rs 28 crore, but this year the default has come down to Rs 6 crore.
An estimated Rs 99.81 crore property tax was collected through E-seva centres in Hyderabad. “The property collection could mark record this year with the relentless effort from the GHMC finance department officials with the leadership of commissioner, Mr. M.T. Krishna Babu,” additional commissioner finance, Ms K.Shiva Parvathi, stated.