Vikarabad: Tax collection picks up in rural areas

Vikarabad: The tax collection process in the panchayats has picked up pace. As the fiscal year is coming to end, officials are racing to reach the target. District panchayat officials estimate that this year collections would be more as secretaries to all villages were appointed. Rs 5.89 crore has been already collected this year against the target of Rs 8.43 crore. Another Rs 2.53 crore is to be collected. Last year Rs 5.23 crore was collected.

Basheerabad, Parigi and Kodangal mandals are at the forefront of the tax collection, while Tandur, Mominpeta and Dharur mandals are lagging behind. Tax collection was not carried out until January, due to the panchayat elections and the Palle Pragathi programme, but the pace of tax collection has been picked up in each gram panchayat from February. The district panchayat department is looking at collecting pending tax arrears. In addition, the relevant authorities have taken steps to speed up the process of tax collection in backward (In tax collection) mandals.

On the other hand, everyone in the village panchayats is volunteering to pay taxes as never before. However, the district administration has set a target of collecting tax dues of Rs 8.43 crore in the current fiscal year. An amount of Rs 5.59 crore towards tax has been collected so far and another Rs.2.53 crore is required to collect. As per the estimations, almost 70% of the tax collection is over and officials are hopeful of reaching the target for this fiscal year.