Civic officials have started reaching out to house owners with letters of intimation informing residents about their pending property taxes and requesting them to submit an application by December 31 for waiver of interest and penalty.

Since the roll-out of the waiver scheme on October 1, this is the first time civic officials are going door to door to hand over the letter of intimation, which would otherwise be sent by post to the defaulters.

With just about a fortnight left to submit the waiver application, officials of the Calcutta Municipal Corporation said they were trying to offer a “gentle reminder” to defaulters so that they could avail themselves of the benefits.

Property tax defaulters together owe the CMC Rs 2,500 crore.

“A demand notice will be issued immediately on receipt of the waiver application. The person concerned can then pay the amount either in full or in instalments within the specified dates and get full or partial waiver,” said an official of the CMC’s assessment department.

Over the last few days officials from each ward have started visiting houses and apartments with letters of intimations, along with a pamphlet for each defaulter where details of the waiver scheme are printed on one side and the format for application seeking waiver on the other.

The letter of intimation has details of the amount left unpaid till March 31 this year and the cumulative amount due to the CMC with interest and penalty.

Forms are available both online and offline and can be submitted online or at any of the CMC’s common collection centres or any of its e-Calcutta citizen service centres. Bills can be collected online or at these centres. There are 20 such centres in the city.

By applying for the waiver scheme, a defaulter would just have to pay the principal amount if it is paid within February 28, 2021. The waiver on penalty will be 99 per cent and that on the interest 60 per cent if the amount is paid by March 31, 2021.

“For housing complexes or apartments with a considerable number of defaulters we are even prepared to accept cheques if they want to pay collectively,” said the official. “The associations or the committees will fix a date and inform us when an official will go and receive the cheques before handing over receipts.”

The outreach programme comes around a time when the state is learnt to be preparing to hold the civic elections in Calcutta by end-March. Ahead of the elections, the state government wants to wrap up the process of recovering as much as possible the outstanding amount from property tax in Calcutta, officials in the know said.

“There are several housing complexes and apartments where the amount due on property tax ranges between Rs 16 lakh and Rs 25 lakh,” said an official. “Even if half the amount is recovered through this waiver scheme, it would be quite an amount.”