Gymkhana Club, Red Bishop among government properties to be sealed in Panchkula

Amit Bathla

Panchkula, May 2

The local Municipal Corporation has decided to seal several government buildings, including the Gymkhana Club, the Red Bishop resort, the Haryana Government Press building, the Haryana State Industrial and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HSIIDC) office, the Electricity Department office in Sector 6 and private properties Hotel Holiday Inn and the Ansal Group building over non-clearance of property tax dues. In all, property tax defaulters owe around Rs 100 crore to the civic body.

At a meeting of the revenue and realisation committee that lasted around three hours, Mayor Kulbhushan Goyal also passed sealing orders for defaulting showrooms (with pending dues over Rs 5 lakh) in Sector 11 and 16.

He also warned of action against the officials concerned if the civic body failed to meet its property tax collection target for the 2022-2023 fiscal.

In 2021-2022, the MC had managed to collect around Rs 11 crore against a target of Rs 25 crore. For the past several years, the MC has not been able to make the expected earnings, including property tax collection, which is its main source of revenue.

For the 2022-23 fiscal, the MC is once again hoping to earn Rs 25 crore from property tax. The Mayor ordered a private agency, Yashi Consultancy Private Ltd of Jaipur, to rectify irregularities in the property tax survey. Chandigarh Tribune had recently highlighted that residents were being served error-ridden property tax notices by the MC. Anomalies such as wrong name, area and floor information forced residents to stand in long queues at the MC centre in Sector 12-A for rectification.

MC to crack whip on defaulting telcos

The MC has decided to crack the whip on telecommunication companies for not clearing their dues pertaining to laying of fibre cables and installing mobile towers.

The MC managed to recover just Rs 44 lakh from telecommunication companies in April, while the dues are about Rs 100 crore. The government-owned BSNL is among the defaulters.

On the issue of Shalimar Mall, the Mayor directed the officials concerned to carry out “remeasurement” in 10 days.

Expressing displeasure over the condition of public and mobile toilets, the Mayor issued instructions to stop the payments of contractors.