Bhubaneswar: To scale up revenue collection for the current financial year, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday brought out a standard operating procedure (SOP) for an aggressive drive that will be implemented for 15 days from Sunday. The civic body has decided to crack the whip on tax defaulters by sealing their commercial complexes if they don’t pay their dues during the special drive, officials said.
As many as 39 squads have been formed for the job, with each squad comprising one ward officer, two security personnel, one sanitary inspector, one Swachh Sathi, and a tax collector.

“In the 15-day intensive drive, we want to mop up fresh revenue and try to collect the pending dues like holding tax, trade licence, user fee and advertisement licence fee. The squads have been sensitised on how to assess new properties for holding tax calculation and collection, and issue notices to already assessed properties. The same procedure will be followed in the case of trade licences also,” said BMC additional commissioner Suvendu Sahu.
This year, BMC has set a target of collecting Rs 115 crore in holding tax by the end of March. Holding tax is being collected by BMC based under the Odisha Municipal Act, 1950. The civic body still follows the old rates. Since land value is an important determinant for tax calculation and it has increased manifold across different locations of the city, the final amount went up in the revised tax assessment. Orissa high court had halted tax collection as per revised rates in 2021. Since then, tax is being collected on the basis of old rates.
BMC officials said each squad is expected to process at least 50 properties daily, covering all three revenue components — holding tax, trade licence and user fee for littering municipal solid waste. “We are roping in a transgender squad again after a two-year gap. The squad is exclusively meant to collect dues from big defaulters. Ward officers will use point of sale (POS) hand-held machines for on-spot collection of tax,” Sahu added.
He said if defaulters evade paying dues, their business premises will be sealed and legal action will be initiated against them.
There are 1.20 lakh holdings (properties) in the city. But out of them, 5,000 are residential buildings being used for commercial purposes, violating norms. In such cases, the sqauds will seal those properties.
BMC officials said the nature of properties keeps changing, and constant follow-up is needed to ensure the civic body has accurate information.
Bhubaneswar: To scale up revenue collection for the current financial year, the Bhubaneswar Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Saturday brought out a standard operating procedure (SOP) for an aggressive drive that will be implemented for 15 days from Sunday. The civic body has decided to crack the whip on tax defaulters by sealing their commercial complexes if they don’t pay their dues during the special drive, officials said.
As many as 39 squads have been formed for the job, with each squad comprising one ward officer, two security personnel, one sanitary inspector, one Swachh Sathi, and a tax collector.
“In the 15-day intensive drive, we want to mop up fresh revenue and try to collect the pending dues like holding tax, trade licence, user fee and advertisement licence fee. The squads have been sensitised on how to assess new properties for holding tax calculation and collection, and issue notices to already assessed properties. The same procedure will be followed in the case of trade licences also,” said BMC additional commissioner Suvendu Sahu.
This year, BMC has set a target of collecting Rs 115 crore in holding tax by the end of March. Holding tax is being collected by BMC based under the Odisha Municipal Act, 1950. The civic body still follows the old rates. Since land value is an important determinant for tax calculation and it has increased manifold across different locations of the city, the final amount went up in the revised tax assessment. Orissa high court had halted tax collection as per revised rates in 2021. Since then, tax is being collected on the basis of old rates.
BMC officials said each squad is expected to process at least 50 properties daily, covering all three revenue components — holding tax, trade licence and user fee for littering municipal solid waste. “We are roping in a transgender squad again after a two-year gap. The squad is exclusively meant to collect dues from big defaulters. Ward officers will use point of sale (POS) hand-held machines for on-spot collection of tax,” Sahu added.
He said if defaulters evade paying dues, their business premises will be sealed and legal action will be initiated against them.
There are 1.20 lakh holdings (properties) in the city. But out of them, 5,000 are residential buildings being used for commercial purposes, violating norms. In such cases, the sqauds will seal those properties.
BMC officials said the nature of properties keeps changing, and constant follow-up is needed to ensure the civic body has accurate information.