NEW DELHI: A large number of people thronged the citizen service bureaus (CSBs) and zonal offices of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi on Friday to deposit their property tax and avail of the 15 per cent rebate before the June 30 deadline.

A total of Rs.30 crores was collected on the last day alone, of which Rs.13 crores was deposited at CSBs, while around 40,000 returns were received through the day, with as many as 24,000 being accepted at the CSBs. In the first quarter of the current financial year, the civic body managed to collect around Rs.250 crores, while only Rs.108 crores was received during the same period last year. Between April and June this year, five-lakh taxpayers deposited their dues, while during the same period, 1.93 lakh people had paid their tax.

After it failed miserably to meet the collection target last year, the MCD administration swung into action in April itself and started its drive to collect property tax. It also decided not to extend the last date for availing of the rebate beyond June 30, forcing people to pay their taxes early. "Last year the collections were poor, so this year we started early and managed to increase our revenue by more than double within the first three months of the current fiscal.

I myself met officials of some government organisations including Delhi Jal Board and Delhi Development Authority and managed to get property tax from them," said Mayor Farhad Suri.

Last year, Rs.794.41 crores was collected against the target over Rs.1,500 crores. This year, the MCD aims to improve its collection considerably and has already started making efforts to boost its collections.

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