Bhubaneswar, April 24: The housing and urban development department has slammed the municipal corporation for failing to reach its revenue target in the last fiscal.

The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation's collection from holding tax, market rent, advertisement, trade licence and user fee has dropped to Rs 257 crore against a target of Rs 302 crore.

The civic body's performance was discussed at a review meeting of the state's urban local bodies, a yearly practice of the housing and urban development department. In the 2015-16 fiscal, the civic body had collected Rs 277 crore as revenue.

An official of the housing and urban development department said the government had considered the ongoing smart city project, increasing trust of citizens and the potential of the civic body, before revising the holding tax collection target by 50 per cent above the actual collection of the previous fiscal. However, the final collection figure is disappointing, he said.

Besides, the collection from market rent, advertisements, trade license and user fees are also not up to the mark, the official said.

The department has also made a flurry of suggestions to improve revenue collection. It has asked the civic body to fix a monthly collection target for all tax collectors and monitor the progress weekly. It has also asked the municipal corporation to take action against officials for poor performance.

"We have issued directions on increasing revenue collection and maintaining service parameters. Good revenue collection, along with quality service, is needed if the civic body wants to retain a good credit rating. This will help us float municipal bonds and raise money from the market for different projects," said the official.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said: "We have set a target of Rs 137.27 crore collection from holding tax, which is three times higher than the previous year. The government has already taken an initiative to implement the property tax system this year. We are going to take several measures to increase revenue from market, user fees and trade licence," said Jena.

Speaking on the issue of low tax collection, a senior official of the civic body said: "We need to sensitise people about making timely payments. We also need to bring in stringent measures in case they failed to pay their dues on time."

He said several people were exempting themselves from paying taxes, which was one of the main reasons for the low figure.