New Delhi, May 31 (PTI) The Aam Aadmi Party has written to MCD special officer Ashwani Kumar seeking time for an appointment to plug loopholes in the collection of house tax by the civic body.

Citing media reports, AAP leader and MCD in-charge Durgesh Pathak said that they have learnt that the Municipal Corporation of Delhi is planning to increase house tax in order to augment its revenue generation.

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"We have written to Kumar seeking an appointment with him. The three MCDs have more than 27.50 lakh registered houses from whom the house tax is collected. The house tax collection would generate a revenue of Rs 4,700 crore whereas the MCD is only able to collect Rs 1,750 crore," he said in a press conference.

Noting that there is a huge gap between the two figures, he said that if this gap can be filled there will be no need to hike the house tax rates. He also alleged that the Rs 3,000 crore (the gap between the figures) gets sacrificed "at the altar of corruption".

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"Delhi's residents have faced a lot due to the coronavirus pandemic. They have incurred losses in business and their income has dwindled. Increasing house tax will only lead to problems for them. We have written to Ashwani Kumar seeking time to discuss about how we can improve the collection system," he said.

The unified Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) formally came into existence on May 22 as IAS officers Ashwani Kumar and Gyanesh Bharti assumed charge as the new civic body's special officer and commissioner, respectively.

The MCD was trifurcated in 2012 during Sheila Dikshit's tenure as the chief minister. It has now been reunified by merging the three civic bodies — North, South and East Municipal Corporations.

The three civic bodies have been merged into one MCD through the Delhi Municipal Corporation (Amendment) Act, 2022.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)