Warangal: Civic body told to focus on tax collection

Warangal: There is a dire need for focusing on property tax collection, said Warangal Urban District Collector Prashanth Jeevan Patil, who is also in full additional charge of Greater Warangal Municipal Corporation (GWMC).

In his first review meeting with the GWMC officials here on Tuesday, he directed the officials to lay special emphasis on tax collection. "While the target is to collect Rs 68 crore, the property tax accrued so far was Rs 35 crore, which amounts to 51 per cent in the 2019-20 fiscal. The civic body had achieved 83 per cent tax collection in 2018-19," the Collector said. He directed officials to conduct special drives to achieve at least 90 per cent tax collection in the ongoing financial year. He expressed dissatisfaction over the water cess collection in this year. The civic body was able to collect just Rs 9 crore as against a target of Rs 26 crore, he added. He told the Additional Commissioner Ch Nageshwar to review the progress of tax collection every fortnight.

Referring to the Rs 29 crore building permission charges collected till September-end, the Collector instructed the officials to achieve another Rs 50 crore by March-end. He enquired about the guidelines followed by the GWMC in issuing the occupancy certificates.

Emphasising the importance of ensuring greenery in the city junctions, the Collector told officials to spend 10 per cent of revenue collected through the advertisement hoardings on greenery. Patil said that they have plans to set up a monitoring cell to ensure proper sanitation in the city. The monitoring cell will also be entrusted with the functioning of solid and faecal waste management, the Collector said.

During his review meeting, the Collector also focused on the general administration in the GWMC, engineering, planning, parks and other issues, besides eliciting information from the officials concerned. Referring to the massive development activity in the city, Patil warned the officials not to be complacent. Special Officer Manu Chowdary, Additional Commissioner Ch Nageshwar and other officials were present.