To help cash-strapped MCD improve its property tax collection, Delhi Government has offered it geo-spatial data of houses and real estates to identify defaulting properties and bring them in the tax net.

Delhi government's Information Technology department has offered a huge pool of geo-spatial data of properties to the municipal body so that it could identify the defaulting properties which are yet to pay tax, said a top official of the Delhi Government.

The government has formed a three-member expert group which will go through the geo-spatial data to help the agency find defaulting properties and improve its earnings from property tax collection.

"The task force will also coordinate with the Residents Welfare Associations to identify those who have not paid their taxes and assist in recovering dues," the official said.

A large number of properties in the national capital continue to evade tax depriving MCD of thousands of crores.

However, by bringing them into tax net the civic body can expect to push up its sagging coffers, he added.

The MCD has been demanding additional funds from the state government to meet its day-to-day expenditure. But the state government is already facing fund crunch because of increasing spending on Commonwealth Games projects and has told the civic body to improve its earnings.

By expanding the property tax net, MCD can significantly improve its revenue, the official said. "If they can bring more properties under the tax net than they will no longer look towards us for funds," he added.

The MCD says that only 30 per cent of owners of the properties in the city are paying tax to it. The corporation had recently decided to engage mosquito breeding checkers all through the year to conduct a door-to-door survey in the city to identify tax defaulters.