Bhubaneswar, April 3: The municipal corporation is adopting a number of measures to force holding tax defaulters to cough up their dues.

After displaying the list of names at Raahgiri last week, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has also put up the names on the civic body website and other social networking websites. Based on the number of defaulters who pay off their holding tax, fresh lists would be put up at the upcoming Raahgiri events.

"Raahgiri is a major event in the city that witnesses gathering of a large number of people. So, we thought that it would be a suitable platform to reveal the names of the defaulters. If the defaulters see their names on the list displayed in a public forum, they would pay the money," said mayor Ananta Narayan Jena.

"We need the residents to understand that the tax money will be used for various development work and projects. Consequently, we have decided to become strict with the defaulters for their benefit," said the mayor.

According to sources, holding tax collection in 2015-16 was only around Rs 20.41 crore as compared to the target of around Rs 40 crore. So, the civic body is leaving no stone unturned to achieve the target of Rs 50 crore this year.

Sources in the civic body said that more than 200 names are there on the list in which people have defaulted Rs 10,000 or above. An official said that the defaulting amount by the private buildings would be above Rs 8 crore.

A set of three zones has been created and 10 boards bearing the names have been put up at prominent locations.

"We have tried to localise the entire system. Each of the points would have the name of the defaulters of the particular area. This is to avoid confusion and make it more visible," said additional commissioner Alok Kumar Kar.

"It is extremely humiliating. One should pay the taxes on time," said D. Sahu, who has defaulted nearly Rs 80,000.

Another defaulter, on the condition of anonymity, expressed his displeasure over the public revelation of the names. "They should first send a personal notice and then make the names public. There could be a genuine problem because of which certain people were not being able to pay the tax."

Once a defaulter deposits the due, the person's name will be immediately deleted from the hoarding.

To make things easier for the residents, authorities have also introduced an online payment mode for the purpose under its e-municipality scheme.

They can also make the payment manually at the counters or pay their annual dues to the corporation's designated tax collectors.

"We have tried to take all the necessary steps to ensure timely payment of taxes. We are also getting positive response from the people," said the mayor.

However, despite the initiatives, the turnout has not been quite encouraging. "We hope that in the next two weeks more defaulters would turn up. Otherwise, they would face other consequences," said a senior corporation official.