With a view to meet the target of recovering pending house tax, water and sewerage dues, till the end of the current financial year, the municipal corporation (MC) commissioner has issued orders for the staff of these branches to work on Saturdays too, till March 31.

According to information, the finance-starved MC is having an outstanding arrears of Rs 124.82 crore, pending towards house tax, water and sewerage charges.

Figures available with the MC reveal that the civic body had totally failed in recovering outstanding dues from the defaulters in the city till the month of February. Data of the house tax branch reveal that though the MC had collected Rs 40.46 crore from the residents, still a huge amount of Rs 53.57 crore was pending.

The situation is highly pathetic in the case of water and sewerage recovery, where against the total outstanding arrears of Rs 71.25 crore, MC had recovered only Rs 5.71 crore till February. But, with the current financial year heading towards its end, the MC has expedited the recovery of these pending dues.

MC commissioner GS Ghuman has been conducting special meetings with the staff of the house tax branch, sewerage and water supply, in which he has directed the staff to expedite the recovery, so that the fixed target could be achieved by the end of the current financial year.

MC officers have set a target of recovering Rs 75 crore from house tax, whereas from the water and sewerage supply, total targeted income is Rs 42 crore.

However, in order to speed up the recovery of these arrears, Ghuman has now issued orders to the staff of these branches to work even on Saturdays to get maximum recovery. In a meeting held on Saturday evening, Ghuman directed the officers to get maximum revenue for the civic body, so that more income could be generated.

Talking to the TOI, Ghuman confirmed that he has issued orders to staff to work on Saturdays to expedite the recovery of the arrears. He said the sole aim of the measure was to ensure more revenue for the civic body.