Activist alleges defaulters misusing Pune civic body’s amnesty scheme
In 2024, among all the beneficiaries of the scheme, 42 per cent are the same people who have been availing of benefits since 2020-21
Some property tax defaulters are intentionally availing benefits of the amnesty scheme which is causing loss to Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and is an injustice to honest taxpayers, allege activists.
Civic activist Vivek Velankar got the information under the Right To Information (RTI) Act and found that the same people are becoming defaulters every year to avail the benefit.
In 2020-21 a total of 1.49 lakh defaulters were listed and among them, 63,518 again were listed the next year (in 2022-23) to take the benefit of the scheme.
In 2024, among all the beneficiaries of the scheme, 42 per cent are the same people who have been availing of benefits since 2020-21.
Velankar said, “In the first year, there were 1.49 lakh defaulters who took benefit of this amnesty scheme and PMC suffered a loss of ₹210 crore.”
Even in the next year to cover dues, PMC again introduced the amnesty scheme and a total of 66,454 defaulters took benefit and the civic body suffered loss of ₹64 crore.
“PMC should not introduce this scheme every year as it is an injustice to honest taxpayers and the civic body also suffers huge losses,” said Velankar.
Under the amnesty scheme, waiver is given in the penalty amount to the defaulters to encourage them to clear their dues.