The Hindu : MCD ready for Unit Area, says Commissioner

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Feb 29, 2004

New Delhi

New Delhi

MCD ready for Unit Area, says Commissioner

By Our Staff Reporter

NEW DELHI, FEB. 28. The Municipal Commissioner, Rakesh Mehta, today said the civic body was ready to implement the Unit Area Method for assessment of House Tax in the Capital from the next financial year beginning April 1.

"All the necessary ground work has been done and the process for creation of necessary infrastructure has been set in motion well in advance. The entire system would be ready in two months' time,'' Mr. Mehta said, soon after the report of the Municipal Valuation Committee was presented to him by its Chairman, O. P. Kelkar.

As per the recently amended Delhi Municipal Corporation Act, 1957, it is binding on the MCD House and its Standing Committee to abide by recommendations of the Municipal Valuation Committee, the implementation of the Unit Area Method is a foregone conclusion, he said. "Now the role of the MCD is that of a facilitator,'' he observed. Mr. Mehta said a people-friendly easy-to-fill form was almost ready which would be widely distributed so that property-owners can calculate their house tax.

The civic body has already empanelled about 1,000 architects and valuers who would calculate the covered area of properties of more than 100 sq. metre, while for those less than this would have to calculate the covered area on their own. In the new system, the rate of tax is determined on the basis of covered area.

As part of its awareness drive to explain the new system to the residents, the MCD has planned a massive campaign from March 15. Besides opening up a round-the-clock call centres to give answers to all the queries of the residents with regard to property tax, the MCD is now ready with some five lakh easy-to-understand booklets on the Unit Area Method. To be sold at a nominal price to recover its printing cost, the booklet would be given free of cost to the resident welfare associations (RWA).

The civic body is also planning to hold Bhagidari meetings with the RWAs. "We will also be holding public awareness camps and send out team of officials to the RWAs to explain to them about the new system and give answers to all the queries,'' he said. All information with regard to the Unit Area Method would be put on the website, www.mcdonline.gov.in, and residents can seek clarifications through e-mails, he added.

Mr. Mehta said the MCD was in the final stages of setting up the requisite infrastructure for collection of house tax including software and computerisation. Training of MCD staff would begin soon, he said. The Municipal Valuation Committee had recommended a complete re-organisation of the Assessment and Collection Department of the MCD. It also suggested for reorientation and training workshops for its staff and officials.

As the onus for giving tax in the new system would be on the property owners, he said the MCD had adopted a multi-pronged approach to create a database of all the properties of the Capital so as to ensure that they brought under the tax net. Besides the ongoing survey by the Postal Department, the MCD has also taken the help of database of the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited and power and water utilities to update a list of properties.

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