Gurugram civic body to incentivise RWAs for property tax collection

GURUGRAM: If you own a house in Gurugram, don’t be surprised if your RWA calls up to inquire if you’ve paid your property tax.

The pandemic has seen RWAs being increasingly vested with powers beyond their scope, and here’s the latest — the Municipal Corporation of Gurugram (MCG), whose revenue generation has taken a severe hit due to the lockdown, has introduced an incentive system for RWAs and ward committees if they help with property tax and fire tax collections in their respective areas.

As an incentive, the corporation will give 5% of the total property tax collected in the area — with a cap at Rs 50 lakh for ward committees and Rs 5 lakh for RWAs — for waste management work. There are, however, conditions; MCG will give the incentive only if collections reach 80% of the total property tax due in an area.

“The scheme will be applicable for only those RWAs and ward committees where the number of properties is more than 500 units. The incentive amount will be transferred to ward committees/RWAs for meeting expenditure on solid waste management projects in their area,” read the order issued by the MCG commissioner Vinay Pratap Singh on Thursday evening.

MCG officials said they have already informed RWAs and ward committees about the incentive system. “Property tax collection has seen a fall due to the lockdown. We’ve decided to give incentives to RWAs and ward committees so that maximum property tax is collected. Some of the RWAs are keen to participate and help us with tax collection in their areas,” said Dinesh Kumar, zonal taxation officer-2, MCG.

Fall is putting it mildly. From April 1 to July 24, MCG has collected only Rs 48 crore as property tax. The estimated revenue from property tax for the 2020-21 fiscal year is Rs 500 crore. MCG officials said it would be acceptable if the corporation was able to achieve even 50% of this target, considering the strains the pandemic had put people under. So far, the corporation has issued 1,600 notices to defaulters with property tax dues of more than Rs 5 lakh.
RWAs, who have had a busy last four months with the government effectively relying on them to perform the role of last-mile administrators — from framing rules on who can enter a society or colony to restrictions on domestic staff — are already chalking out plans to encourage people to pay up.

Some said they would be happier if the incentive was higher than Rs 5 lakh. The Qutub Enclave RWA, for instance, will organise a property tax camp for residents next week. “Property tax collections have come down compared to last year due to the pandemic. Though we welcome this step, RWAs feel the Rs 5 lakh cap should be increased to motivate them to work for the property tax collection. Since some people find it difficult to file tax online, so we have collaborated with MCG. Some of their officials will be present at the camp and collect property tax on the spot,” Qutub Enclave RWA spokesperson Dhruv Bansal said.

Suncity too is planning a similar drive. “It is a very good move by MCG. We have around 1,300 housing units in Suncity and are going to discuss this offer at a virtual meeting with RWA members so that we plan a campaign. I am sure that most residents will pay property tax on time,” said Kuldeep Rana, president of the Suncity RWA.