BBMP to check floor construction for property tax evasion

BENGALURU: After sending notices to property owners who have not paid up tax dues or who have made only partial payments, the Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike (BBMP) is now planning to conduct a survey of the number of floors constructed and check if there is any tax evasion.

Deputy Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, who is in charge of Bengaluru, had set a target for the BBMP on property tax collection following which the civic body has been taking various steps to raise revenue. It was durng this time that the BBMP realised that many property owners had built several floors after having taken sanction for the building plan for one floor.

“We will conduct a survey and ask the property owners to pay the tax dues. Zonal level officials have already been instructed to assess those properties where houses have been built but the owners are not paying tax. Any other unauthorised deviations will also be checked”, said BBMP Special Commissioner (Revenue) Munish Moudgil.

“We are going by each property and checking for violations. We will need 3-4 months to complete the exercise. We have checked about two lakh properties so far and are issuing notices wherever there are violations. We will submit a report to the Deputy CM later”, he said.