Odishatv Bureau
Berhampur: In a novel method to recover huge arrears, Berhampur Municiapl Corporation (BMC) in Ganjam district has decided to beat drums in front of houses of major tax defaulters.

Besides, names of these 'wilful' defaulters will also be displayed prominently at different public places in the town.

The BMC meeting held on Friday decided to adopt these methods to draw the attention of the public and embarrass the defaulters to cough up tax, said Mayor Siba Shankar Dash.

"We hope the major defaulters will come forward to deposit their arrear amounts while others will start paying tax regularly fearing humiliation in public," said Dash.

The major defaulters include several hotels, cinema halls, government establishments and even schools located within the BMC area. Some of the tax arrears are pending since 2006, official sources said.

"We have served notices to the defaulters several times requesting to pay taxes. Some of them have been ignoring our appeals, while many of them have paid during the tax collection drive," said BMC Commissioner Ajit Mishra.

There are defaulters even though the BMC had offered sops for them, including one-time settlement (OTS) and payment through instalments, the mayor added.

The BMC has also decided to serve notices to house owners where diffwerent organizations have put up advertisements without taking permission from the corporation.

They would also be asked to pay for the billboards and take permission from the BMC.
 

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