Submit detailed report on Rs 5 crore property tax scam: Panel to Gurugram civic body

The state’s legislative committee on panchayati raj and urban local bodies has asked MCG to submit a detailed report on the alleged property tax scam that is said to have caused a loss of at least Rs 5 crore to the corporation. It sought the details during a review meeting of MCG’s development work in Gurgaon on Wednesday. “The committee has asked senior MCG officials to submit a detailed report, revealing the names of the civic officials and property owners involved in the alleged scam. It has also sought copies of FIRs filed in the case,” said an official, who attended the meeting. The alleged scam came to light in August this year when an FIR was filed at Sadar police station, following a complaint by a zonal taxation officer of the MCG, in which initially six properties were mentioned for alleged tax evasion. Later, seven more properties were included in the complaint and another FIR was lodged at DLF-2 police station. Preliminary probe suggested these frauds took place between August 2015 and April 2017. And earlier this month, the civic body found out that a few of its employees had floated a fake website to lure people to get their taxes reduced. Talking about property tax collections, principal secretary of urban local bodies department, Anand Mohan Sharan, said “the government is currently mapping the properties through a geo-information system which will eventually make it impossible for anyone to evade property taxes”. The committee also discussed MCG’s takeover of private colonies and the status of respective colonies. The committee also asked MCG officials to submit the details of revenue generated through advertising in the past five years, along with details on the tenders allocated in the same period, with the profits and losses made on these deals. Some of the other issues discussed in the meeting include new waste management plan, the city bus service, MCG’s advertising policy, encroachments in the area near the ammunition depot and the LED street-lighting project. The review meeting was chaired by Aseem Goel, Ambala MLA, and attended by four other MLAs, including Gurgaon’s Umesh Agarwal, along with MCG officials and mayoral team. The team also visited the area around the ammunition depot and assessed the extent of encroachments.