Forty-eight hours after its launch, Calcutta Municipal Corporation (CMC) officials are uncertain about the success of the much-vaunted second waiver-of-interest scheme on outstanding property tax.

While mayor Subrata Mukherjee expects the total collection from the defaulting house-owners to be no less than Rs 180 crore, municipal commissioner Debashis Som has set a target of Rs 250 crore for his revenue officers.

The officers, however, said they will be happy if the total collection crosses the Rs 80-crore mark.

Over 250,000 house-owners pay property tax to the CMC. Of them, over 80,000 have not paid for varying periods between 1963 and 2003.

According to the mayor, the total amount of outstanding property tax is Rs 1,143.86 crore, of which Rs 616.19 crore is the principal amount. Of this outstanding principal amount, over Rs 400 crore is due from 5,000 house-owners.

The CMC?s first waiver-of-interest scheme was started for six months in June 2001. It was later extended by three months, till March 2002.

Around Rs 1,800 crore was due from house-owners (including interest and penalty) when the scheme was started. The recovery target was Rs 300 crore, but eventually, only Rs 120 crore was recovered.

Of the over 90,000 defaulters, only 22,000 had availed of the interest-waiver benefit during the first scheme.

Though the middle-class responded well, most of the big defaulters, including commercial houses, did not register for the scheme.

Civic officials said that even two-and-a-half years after the first waiver scheme, big defaulters, like those on Strand Road and Anandilal Poddar Sarani, have still not cleared their dues.

The CMC?s assessment and collection records reveal over Rs 30 crore is due from the owner of 16, Strand Road, while Aradhana Apartment, on Anandilal Poddar Sarani, has not paid property tax to the tune of Rs 7 crore.

According to civic officials, it is fairly safe to presume that the big defaulters who did not clear their dues during the first scheme, will not do so this time around, too.

The main reasons behind the scepticism of revenue officials are:

*The total outstanding amount is disputed. The CMC?s calculation is based on the basis of supplementary bills. Some house-owners have got demand notices even after clearing dues

*Given that the waiver scheme is being repeated, house-owners are less serious about clearing their dues

*The CMC did not punish all the defaulters who did not respond to the first scheme. Otherwise, water connections to over 25,000 buildings would have been snapped.