Bhubaneswar: Repeated appeals and warnings to holding tax defaulters have failed to pay dividends for the civic body as it failed to boost its tax revenue.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation had taken several steps, including slapping notices on major defaulters and making the list public on its official website, to boost its income. Though it managed to increase its monthly collection from Rs 1.45 crore in January to Rs 6 crore in February, the total collection remained at Rs 21.6 crore compared to Rs 35.7 crore till February last year.

The civic body's performance also drew the housing and urban development department's ire that issued a warning to the civic body. In its letter, the department said the revenue collection was below the annual target.

"I hope you might be reviewing the collection drive on a regular basis. It is now necessary to review it on a daily basis. You are, therefore, requested to take necessary steps and augment your efforts to realise annual revenue targets to meet the expectation of the government," department secretary G. Mathivathanan wrote on February 27. This was the third such warning from the government in recent months.

In January, the civic body issued notices to 284 major holding tax defaulters and set a target to collect Rs 9 crore from them before the end of March. Similarly, it made a list of 205 petty defaulters public in February and hoped to collect Rs 3 crore from them.

The civic body had set an ambitious target to collect Rs 44 crore from holding tax in its annual budget.

Sources said the effect of demonetisation had boosted last year's collection. "People came in large numbers and paid their current as well as arrears with the scrapped notes. As a result, last year's collection crossed the Rs 100 crore-mark for the first time," said a civic official.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena, however, said the collection would be improved after the total was calculated. "Our efforts are yielding results. The collection in February was quite good and we hope that the March collection will be better. We are confident of reaching our target," he said.