Soon, property tax bills will see another component — a one-time fire service fee — which will be collected from buildings that have been constructed between March 3, 2014 and June 6, 2021. This was announced in a new circular issued by the fire brigade. The circular mentioned that this fee should be taken from developers or owners/occupiers and would be payable just once to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC). But while the BMC is yet to compute the charges as it is still collating the data on the buildings, BJP MLA Ameet Satam has warned of a scam worth crores in this. He said it will be possible if the component is levied on housing societies, as according to him, these charges are supposed to be paid by the developer.

The circular issued early this month mentioned that the fire department has to collate data of the buildings constructed between March 3, 2014 and June 6, 2021. The buildings’ area has to be identified, and the fire brigade has to draft the due amounts for recovery of the one-time fire service charge. Civic officials said this notice would be issued to developers, but it would also go to the owners/occupiers in case the building has an occupation certificate. It is primarily the responsibility of the developer to pay these charges and if they have defaulted, a strict course of action will be taken.