 "People withdrawing money from atms")
Municipal tax collection in Gujarat has risen almost six-fold in the past three working days, thanks to the demonetisation of high value currency notes.
The Gujarat Municipal Finance Board (GMFB) says municipal bodies collected Rs 171 crore in these three days and this figure will go up, as the state government has decided to accept Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 notes till November 24.
"On an average, civic bodies collect Rs 7-10 crore daily in normal conditions; currently, daily collection have risen to Rs 60 crore," said P K Solanki, chief executive officer.
There are eight municipal corporations in Gujarat, which collected about Rs 125 crore in tax in the three previous working days of Friday, Saturday and Monday. Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation (AMC) collected Rs 54.5 crore; those of Surat, Rajkot and Vadodara got Rs 43.8 crore, Rs 13 crore and Rs 5.4 crore, respectively. Tax collections at the 162 municipalities crossed Rs 50 crore.
Deepak Patel, tax officer at the AMC, said following the extension of government bodies accepting Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes, citizens rushed to pay in high-value currency notes. Rajkot Municipal Corporation officials said daily tax collection moved up from an average of Rs 50 lakh to over Rs 5 crore a day.
