The Trinamool Congress-run Balurghat municipality has taken the initiative to recover pending property taxes of around ₹12 crore from central and state government offices to address the civic body’s severe financial crisis.
Sources in the municipality said its own financial resources almost dried up, and the civic body couldn’t even pay employees’ salaries.
Surajit Saha, the new chairman of the municipality, said: “A huge amount of property tax remains unpaid by government departments, and it is causing increased financial pressure on the municipality. While around ₹11 crore is due from state government offices, over ₹70 lakh is due from central government offices.”
“To recover the dues, we have started issuing letters to different government offices in Balurghat town, urging them to clear their pending property taxes,” he added.
According to regulations, like ordinary residents, government offices are also required to pay property tax to the municipality. While most residents pay their annual taxes regularly, government offices often fail to do so, leading to a steady rise in arrears.
Of the total outstanding amount, the Balurghat district hospital tops the list with property tax arrears of nearly ₹4 crore. The district magistrate’s office owes around ₹6 lakh, while the chief medical officer of health’s office has dues of about ₹27 lakh.
In addition, central government offices such as the post office and the income tax office also owe several lakhs of rupees, municipal sources said. “The civic chairman has decided to meet the heads of the departments concerned to request immediate settlement of dues. He has pointed out that recovering the amounts is crucial to overcoming the municipality’s financial crisis,” said a source.
Saha said continuous efforts over the past 10 days helped in the collection of funds from various sources so that the municipality could clear the salaries. “The due salaries are expected to be credited to employees’ bank accounts in one to two days,” he said.
Bapi Sarkar, a district general secretary of the BJP, alleged that the former municipal chairman was involved in misappropriation of funds. “The present chairman is now seeking tax payments from government offices. We apprehend that these funds will also be misused,” said Sarkar.