Corpn parks garbage truck at cinema gates to collect tax dues

According to a Chennai Corporation revenue department official, MSM Theatre in Vivekanandar Nagar in Tiruvottiyur failed to pay property tax and entertainment tax for several months. “We have been demanding tax for more than 15 days, but the theatre management remained indifferent. To teach them a lesson, we parked the garbage lorry at 10.30 am,” she said.

The official added that the theatre management has a default of around Rs 6 lakh as property tax alone. However, theatre management claimed that they have filed an appeal citing the higher tax rates and was waiting for a resolution. Due to the garbage lorry parked at the gates of the theatre, a few shows were cancelled. The vehicle was finally removed after the management promised to pay half the total tax.

Meanwhile, a senior official said such actions against long-time defaulters was not unusual. “We parked garbage lorries even at the gates of luxury hotels. Once we parkthe vehicle, they would be prompted to pay the dues,”he added.

During the current half-year till July 24, the city Corporation has collected Rs 348 crore as property tax. In the last financial year, the civic body had crossed Rs 1,000 crore mark for the first time, collecting Rs 1,002.64 crore as property tax.

In all, the Corporation had recorded a revenue of more than Rs 1,472 crore in 2018-2019, which includes company tax, entertainment tax, income from issuing trade licences, rentals from shopping complexes and charges collected from community halls apart from property tax and professional tax.