Kolhapur: With the financial year coming to an end on Sunday, the civic administration has appealed to citizens to pay tax. It has further warned that fines will be imposed if the tax dues are not cleared in time.All the five citizen felicitation centres (CFCs) will remain open till Sunday midnight. The online window for paying property tax and water tax will also remain active till Sunday evening. Municipal commissioner Mallinath Kalshetti has appealed to the citizens to pay tax and help Kolhapur Municipal Corporation (KMC) take up the development works promised in their localities.According to officials of the accounts department, a large chunk of the tax flows in on the last day of the financial year and the collection is calculated till the evening of April 1.Chief accountant at KMC Sanjay Sarnaik said, “All the civic officials are taking efforts to ensure maximum collection. We are reaching out to every tax payer. The bills have been sent to the tax payers already. We are communicating with the tax payers through several means and urging them to pay the dues. We have received a good response for the online system of tax payment.”The civic administration was targeting a net collection of Rs 436 crore through various taxes for the fiscal 2018-19. Till March 30, it has managed to collect 292 crore i.e. 67% of set target. However, it is lagging behind in tax collection with regard to property tax and water tax.The tax targets have been revised to ensure the collection gives a realistic picture of KMC’s revenue. Fines will be slapped on those who fail to clear the tax dues before March 31.“Fines will be imposed immediately. We have rolled out a plan to give concession on property tax if the payment is made on time. We have also floated a scheme to waive off the fine to which we have received good response from the defaulters,” said Sarnaik.

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