ULHASNAGAR: In a groundbreaking initiative, the Ulhasnagar Municipal Corporation (UMC) has launched ‘Project Manthan’ aimed at cleaning up its property tax database and enhancing revenue management. Under the leadership of municipal commissioner Manisha Awhale, the project has uncovered nearly Rs 170 crore in outstanding property taxes associated with non-existent or incorrectly recorded properties.
The property tax department, supervised by Neelam Kadam, is executing this initiative to rectify inaccuracies, eliminate duplicates, identify ghost properties, and bring previously unassessed properties into the tax fold.
This effort is structured over three phases: the first addressing properties with tax dues exceeding Rs 5 lakh, the second targeting dues between Rs 50,000 and Rs 5 lakh, and the final phase focusing on dues from Rs 5,000 to Rs 50,000. The survey commenced right after the March 31 property tax recovery season and has been carried out entirely by UMC staff without external agency involvement.
In the initial phase, officials discovered 1,121 ghost properties with dues amounting to Rs 116 crore, 114 duplicate entries worth Rs 13 crore, 50 phantom mobile tower assessments totaling Rs 15.4 crore, and 163 properties that were demolished or collapsed yet still reflected tax dues of Rs 24.3 crore. Collectively, these discrepancies account for nearly Rs 170 crore in unrecoverable dues.
Awhale emphasized that Project Manthan aims to establish a transparent and reliable property tax database. “A clean database will help us accurately determine recoverable arrears, enhance revenue planning, and ensure that legitimate taxpayers aren’t adversely affected by incorrect records,” she stated.
Currently, the civic body reports property tax arrears of Rs 996 crore, with annual property tax collections around Rs 112 crore. The identified ghost and duplicate properties will be presented to the Standing Committee for approval before being removed from the tax database.
Neelam Kadam highlighted that this initiative also led to significant administrative improvements. “For the first time, our staff personally delivered property tax bills to nearly 1.5 lakh property owners, covering 82.29% of assessed properties. This initiative saved the corporation approximately Rs 35 lakh and enabled us to update contact details for nearly 80% of property owners,” she noted.
Kadam further mentioned that the updated database will allow UMC to send property tax bills via WhatsApp with digital payment links. In tandem, the department is verifying occupancy certificates from the town planning department to identify unassessed properties, enhancing the civic body’s revenue base for the future.
