Who is the most prominent tax defaulter in Telangana? No… not some film star or a big-ticket entrepreneur. The biggest defaulter is the property on which the tallest and most powerful leader of Telangana resides. Yes. You guessed it right. It’s Telangana chief minister Kalwakuntla Chandrasekhar Rao aka KCR.

Pragathi Bhavan, the official residence and camp office of the chief minister, has defaulted on payment of property tax. In fact, the property tax of Pragathi Bhavan has not been paid for the last five years and the total amount now stands at Rs 26.50 lakh. What more, this includes an interest of Rs 6.69 lakh, which is also pending. Interestingly, no official has dared to remind this to the Pragathi Bhavan.

The GHMC is already cash strapped and is now looking for ways and means to mop up revenues to sustain itself. It has devised a one-time-settlement scheme to collect dues from the defaulters. However, the GHMC has made no effort to inform the Pragathi Bhavan about the dues and suggest a one-times settlement of the pending tax amount.

Interestingly, the GHMC resorts to steps like throwing garbage in front of the homes of the tax defaulters. Civic staff bring garbage vans and empty it in front of the homes if the taxes are not paid. But the same authorities do not dare to ask the highest seat of authority in the state about the non-payment of property tax.