At a meeting of top civic officers and ward officers, Municipal Commissioner G R Aloria instructed them to sever water and drainage connections, if need be, to recover dues. According to highly placed civic sources, nearly Rs 25 crore are outstanding for the past several years.

Aloria said the corporation would also auction movable property of defaulters. Express Newsline had about a year ago, written about the VMC's plans to auction moveable property of defaulters.

The sources said this year's collection had touched nearly Rs 39 crore, as compared to last year's collection of nearly Rs 46 crore.

While ward officers have been asked to submit a progress report every week, the sources said the VMC planned to mop up Rs 40 crore more in the next four months.

Meanwhile, the administration has proposed to extend the tenure of the cell, set up to clear pending tax appeals, by six months. The cell has cleared more than 100 appeals in the past one year, while about 75 cases are pending. The proposal, to be taken up for discussion in the Standing Committee meeting on Thursday, states that the tenure should be extended as the retired judge was out of the country for three months.

The administration has also proposed to pay nearly Rs 2 crore to civic employees and its pensioners towards the difference remaining from the payment made earlier as per the Fifth Pay Commission recommendations.