With owners of only about 30 per cent of properties in Delhi paying tax to MCD, the civic body has decided to deploy mosquito breeding checkers for a door- to-door survey to detect units remaining out of the tax net.
A meeting of the Standing Committee of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) on Monday gave its nod to a proposal to create 3,500 temporary posts of domestic breeding-cum-house tax checkers on contractual basis.
The domestic breeding checkers (DBCs), who are deployed by the MCD every year for six to seven months to undertake house-to-house surveys to prevent breeding of mosquitoes and check spread of diseases like dengue and malaria, will now be employed throughout the year.
The DBCs have long been demanding regularisation of their posts, but the MCD has expressed its inability to do so. However, officials said, as DBCs are well-versed with their areas, they can be used throughout the year for property tax survey to detect defaulters.
"During dengue season, their primary responsibility will be to check mosquito breeding. Along with that they can conduct basic survey of houses. During the rest of the year, they can work only for property tax survey," they said.
According to the proposal, 3,500 DBCs are being engaged from the month of March at a wage of Rs 4,100 per month for six months. The payment will be made under plan head of Health Department. For the remaining period, the payment will be made for corporation fund.
The total financial implication will come to Rs 17.22 crore (Rs 172.2 million). The MCD has recorded an all-time high gross property tax collection of Rs 1157 crore (Rs 11.57 billion) in the 2009-10 fiscal, with the number of taxpayers also reaching the highest-ever figure of 9.73 lakh.
However, officials say owners of an estimated 22 lakh properties in the city are not paying tax to the civic agency. The tax collection for 2009-10 fiscal was nearly 250 crore less than the target of Rs 1400 crore (Rs 14 billion).
Last month, issuing a public notice, the MCD had announced the launch of a door-to-door tax survey and said it will be carried out by the Assessment and Collection Department through its property surveyors.
In the notice, the MCD had asked the owners or occupiers of properties to "cooperate and furnish correct information or documents to the surveyors", warning that non-cooperation will "attract penal provisions under the DMC (Delhi Municipal Corporation) Act, 1957 and the Indian Penal Code."
The Survey of India is also conducting a door-to-door survey of properties in the city and the MCD had said it will make comprehensive use of the data during the current financial year to identify those not paying tax.
