Summary:
Palanpur: Mehsana municipality on Friday sealed the office of Aeronautics Training Centre (ATC) at Mehsana airfield over non-payment of tax arrears to the tune of Rs5.62 crore. It had on May 6, 2016 too , sealed the ATC to recover tax dues. “They use the huge tract of land belonging to the nagarpalika but dilly-dally on paying up the tax dues.”Meanwhile, all activities at the ATC have come to a standstill after its office was sealed, hitting hard the practical training of students and other categories of pilots. The ATC was set up by Ahmedabad Aviation & Aeronautics Ltd to train pilots at this airfield in 2007.Municipality president Ghanshyam Solanki said “We had given them sufficient time but they failed to pay up the amount.”The civic body had served several notices on the ATC since 2008 but they failed to elicit any response. “Actually, we were left with no option but to seal the ATC office as many of our notices had gone unheeded,” said Solanki, adding that “We can’t sit idle with unpaid tax dues worth several crores.” Interestingly, the annual revenue of the municipality is just Rs10 crore.Solanki said the annual tax of Rs48 lakh levied on ATC was negligible compared to lakhs of rupees that AAA charges per trainee for giving flying training..