Daijiworld Media Network - Udupi (SP)

Udupi, Jul 30: As far as collection of taxes through gram panchayats through the software adopted by the panchayat raj system for the year 2018-19, Udupi has risen to occupy the second spot in the entire state, while Dakshina Kannada has been placed third.

Udupi zilla panchayat was at the fourth position last year, and it jumped two spots this time. 158 gram panchayats in the district have fared well under the scheme. The tax collection rose from Rs 21 crore the previous year to Rs 25 crore this year, registering an annual increase of four crore rupees.

Dakshina Kannada, in comparison, slumped by one spot as compared to other districts, but in spite of this, its performance has been laudable. It had collected tax of Rs 27 crore last year and Rs 29 crore this year.

The state government had introduced Panchatantra software with the purpose of maintaining transparency in panchayat raj system. All the gram panchayats need to update tax collected in this system from 

time to time. If they fail to register the tax collection, the tax collection would be recorded as nil.

Udupi could register appreciable improvement as all the gram panchayats in the district cooperated in updating tax collection figures. The fact that taxes were hiked by five to eight percent last year helped the district to show impressive improvement in the tax collection.

Chief project officer of the zilla panchayat here, Srinvas Rao, said that the people have been making payment of taxes within the time limit and the gram panchayats have been properly uploading the details. The increase in tax rate, he admits, helped the district to fare better.

Karkala taluk registered very good performance by collecting Rs 3.17 crore from 34 gram panchayats. It got eight points out of possible ten because of this feat. At the state level, tax of Rs 483 crore was achieved this year. Last year, the tax collection figure was Rs 322 crore.