Navi Mumbai: The Navi Mumbai Municipal Corporation (NMMC) property tax department collected Rs 650 crore so far in the current financial year, with a significant rise in the number of taxpayers using digital payment channels. The tax was collected from 182,894 taxpayers out of 3.6 lakh property holders. Of these, 62% of taxpayers paid Rs 383 crore digitally, while the remaining 38% of citizens paid property tax worth Rs 267 crore offline. NMMC made UPI, QR code, debit/credit card, net banking, NEFT/RTGS, and IMPS facilities available. NMMC also issued notices and seized the properties of several defaulters to meet its target of collecting around Rs 1,000 crore by March 31. Some taxpayers also complained of online payment failure. With the facility of paying taxes from home in a safe and transparent manner, citizens’ inclination towards online options increased significantly, said NMMC commissioner Kailas Shinde. The civic administration also sent links to arrears to pay taxes through SMS and WhatsApp messages repeatedly this year. The property tax department took seizure action against all defaulters.
Officers from all divisional offices were given responsibility for this action, and information on defaulters was updated through area-wise planning. A total of 77 properties in the city were attached so far, and action will be taken against as many defaulters as possible in the coming days, said an official. NMMC recovered a tax amount of about Rs 39 crore so far. In addition, 1,608 large arrears were issued with seizure notices seven days and 48 hours in advance. “We are currently taking seizure action on industrial properties, and soon seizure action will be taken on commercial and business properties as well,” said an official. Stating that the number of citizens paying taxes through digital means was continuously increasing, NMMC said some property owners still had a large amount of arrears pending. Saying that the names of property owners with high arrears will be announced soon, Shinde clarified that this action will be more stringent from now on. He said it was important to make necessary funds available for the development of the city and urged every property owner to fulfil his duty of paying taxes promptly.
