Fifteen property taxpayers will go on a four-day trip to Singapore
Pune Mirror: Fifteen property taxpayers from the twin cities of Pimpri-Chinchwad will receive couple return tickets to Singapore where they will holiday for four days.
All thanks to the Pimpri-Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC). The PCMC had announced the scheme on May 26, 2009 to encourage people to pay their taxes on time.
As a result, about 45,000 people paid their property tax much ahead of time along with their outstanding dues. Now, of these, 11 individuals and four entrepreneurs got lucky and won the trip along with extra goodies that were added.
With these efforts, the PCMC has become the first civic body in the state that will send citizens for a foreign tour to encourage the payment taxes on time.
In recent times, the PCMC has been facing funding problems as its revenue from various sources has been on the decline. So, the civic body is looking for innovative ways to increase its revenue. ‘Fly Singapore’ is a part of this initiative.
When PCMC announced this scheme earlier, it had promised only air tickets for the winners. However, in August, the scheme was modified by the administration and now, the 15 lucky couples will also get food and accommodation in a hotel for four days and three nights.
The results of the lucky draw were declared on Thursday. The winners are Nivrutti Ingale, Chandrashekhar Marathe, Jyoti Ranawade, Dhananjay Deodhar, Abdul Siddiqi, Nitin Mujumdar, Vinay Borate, M M Mathew, Rajesh Gupta, Pandurang Kalbhor, Shekhar Khanwilkar. Apart from these individuals, the four industries that won include K T Shah, J Bajaj Tools and Industries Pvt Ltd, Shakun Precisons Pvt Ltd and Shradhha Associates.
“PCMC has now sought a quotation from all major tour management companies to send the 15 lucky winners on the tour.
The civic authority will soon declare the dates of the tour.” PCMC assistant municipal commissioner Shahaji Pawar, said. He added that the PCMC will continue this scheme for this year as well.
According to this scheme, property owners would have to pay tax before September 30, 2009 along with arrears if they wanted to be part of the scheme.
However, the scheme did not get a very excited response from the people. Out of a total of 2,71,000 tax payers only 45,048 paid their property tax before the date which resulted in PCMC collecting Rs 31 crore as revenue.
More articles by The Desk
- Website to promote child rights launched - March 19th, 2010
- City nightlife is entangled in many restrictions - March 19th, 2010
- Ford India launches 'Figo' in the city - March 19th, 2010
- Opus - one of Pune’s live-band restaurants, is closing down - March 19th, 2010
- Pune is a premier business hub, finds study by UKBIC - March 19th, 2010
