Cuttack: Several government educational institutions, agencies and offices have defaulted on holding tax dues to the Cuttack Municipal Corporation (CMC).
The civic body has recently launched a drive to remind the government institutions and offices of the pending holding tax, sources said.
After receiving frequent reminders from the civic body, some institutions have cleared a portion of their pending holding tax while many others have initiated process to pay their dues to the CMC, sources added.
According to sources, Sriram Chandra Bhanja Medical College and Hospital (SCBMCH) was supposed to pay holding tax to the tune of Rs 22.88 crore to the CMC by August 2019. Authorities of the health institute have cleared holding tax dues worth `1.83 crore some days ago. However, SCBMCH still owes at least `20 crore holding tax to the CMC.
The hospital authorities have written to the state government to take steps to pay the tax dues, sources said.
Similarly, the authorities of Ravenshaw University have failed to pay holding tax to the tune of Rs 7.92 crore to the CMC. According to sources, the university authorities did not provide any information with regard to the newly-constructed buildings to the civic body despite repeated reminders in this regard. Subsequently, the engineering department of the CMC fixed the amount of the holding tax dues on the university as per its own assessment.
“We have held discussions with Ravenshaw authorities. They will soon clear the holding tax dues,” said CMC secretary Latashri Bagh.
It is learnt that Odisha Olympic Association has not paid holding tax dues to the tune of `3.51 crore to the CMC.
Some other institutes and officials who have defaulted on holding tax dues are Cuttack City Hospital (Rs 49.84 lakh), DIG police (`63.87 lakh), Cuttack Development Authority secretary (`35.16 lakh), Bhubananand Odisha School of Engineering (around `60 lakh), Acharya Harihar Regional Cancer Centre (around `85 lakh), JKBK College (Rs 1.62 crore), Government ITI, Khapuria (`73 lakh) and Sishu Bhawan (`29 lakh).
“The CMC has launched a drive to collect the pending dues of holding tax,”Bagh said.