CHANDIGARH: The cash-strapped Punjab government has begun geo-tagging properties across the state to improve property tax recovery.

At present, around 94,000 commercial property owners owe nearly Rs 1,100 crore in property tax, as identified by various civic bodies. Poor recovery has begun to affect revenue-dependent essential services.

Of the total 1.55 lakh owners of commercial, industrial and other properties, 94,000 are commercial property owners. The Local Bodies Department has so far completed surveys in 20 urban local bodies (ULBs), while surveys in another 22 ULBs are currently underway.

In the state’s 167 ULBs, an initial survey has revealed an average shortfall of Rs 2 crore to Rs 3 crore per ULB in property tax collection. In larger ULBs with municipal corporations, the deficit is expected to be significantly higher.

Sources said executive officers of municipal councils and commissioners of municipal corporations are being held accountable for property tax recovery. Annual collection targets are being increased by 3 per cent over the previous year’s collection.

As a result, property tax collection has risen from Rs 282 crore in 2021–22 to Rs 400 crore in 2022–23 and Rs 486 crore in 2023–24, after officials were assigned specific targets.

The department has also identified 48 major commercial property defaulters who together owe Rs 2.15 crore in property tax. Geo-tagging of all properties has been initiated as authorities suspect a wide mismatch between tax receipts and the actual number of properties in urban areas.

Geo-tagging enables the department to record the exact location, actual covered area and the nature of activity conducted on a property. Due to the absence of such mapping earlier, many properties in large cities such as Ludhiana, Jalandhar and Amritsar had remained outside the department’s purview.