Civic body aims to boost revenue through property tax collection

Visakhapatnam: The Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) has set a target of collecting 50 percent property tax by August end. Announcing this at a review meeting held in Visakhapatnam on Wednesday, GVMC Commissioner Ketan Garg exhorted the officials concerned to work on achieving the set target.

Keeping tabs on the status of targets set in the earlier review meeting, the Commissioner reiterated that the corporation is implementing several developmental programmes in Visakhapatnam city. “Strengthening financial resources of GVMC is essential. While revenue collections have increased in some of the zones compared to the previous week, other zones are still lagging,” the Commissioner said. The Commissioner instructed the revenue officers and ward admin secretaries to work towards collecting 50 per cent property tax collection by August 31. He exhorted the revenue officials to work with dedication to support to the corporation’s financial growth.

He directed ward admin secretaries to conduct door-to-door surveys to verify the measurements of new and existing buildings.

Special focus is paid on recovering long-pending arrears, particularly from central government institutions.

The existing bill desk system should be upgraded so that payments can be made directly into the GVMC Commissioner’s account with zero service charges, the Commissioner stated.

The review meeting, organised via video conference, was held in the presence of Additional Commissioner DV Ramana Murthy, DCR S Srinivasa Rao, revenue officers and inspectors.