Bhubaneswar: The housing and urban development department set higher targets for the corporation in augmenting revenue collection after the civic body had showed a good performance in increasing the collection in the 2017-18 fiscal.

According to the target fixed for the 2018-19, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has been asked to collect Rs 65 crore alone from holding tax and Rs 180 crore overall. Sources said the targets was fixed to encourage civic officials to continue good performance in augmenting revenue collection.

"We constantly monitored the revenue collection status of the civic body in the previous fiscal and pestered the officials to take measures. This has worked and the outcome is in front of us. The civic body has broken its past records in the collection status," said a department official.

The revenue collection status of the civic body in the previous fiscal was Rs 135 crore from various taxes and rent, which increased from Rs 100 crore in the 2017-18 fiscal. The civic body had collected Rs 41 crore alone from holding tax, a record.

"We opted for stringent measures to increase the revenue collection. We warned the tax evaders of action, directed people to renew the trade licence or face action and these activities worked for us. The tax collection was very good, and we want to continue the streak," said a civic official.

The department has not only asked the corporation but also four other municipal corporations and other urban local bodies to follow the suit and take steps to augment the revenue collection as the corporation did. "The Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation has set an example for others now," said the department official.

Mayor Ananta Narayan Jena said he was happy with the revenue collection, but not satisfied. "We possess the potential to increase our revenue collection by three-fold every year. We need to re-assess the houses once again to increase the revenue out of holding tax," said Jena. He also warned the tax collectors, who were not doing their job properly.

"We have received complaints about irregularity by tax collectors. We are keeping an watch on them and will take strong action. We are going to make the holding payment online to fight this aspect," said Jena.