Mumbai: No development, no property tax, residents of Kharghar tell PMC

Kharghar residents have opposed the Panvel Municipal Corporationrsquos PMC notice to cooperative societies regarding levying of property tax retrospectively from 2016 when the corporation was formed The notice sought residentsrsquo objectionscorrections in the matterRoad resurfacing work in KhargharResidents said that double taxation should be avoided and that Kharghar node hasnrsquot seen development since the formation of PMC They also opposed the high rate of the tax on flats The PMC on the other hand said it does not have any other income source and that providing basic facilities to villages that have now come into its jurisdiction can happen only with this fund The last date for making a submission to the commissioner is March 4ldquoThe tax rate in NMMC or BMC is much lower This is exorbitant especially since residents have been paying CIDCO taxes Many discrepancies in tax calculation have also come to lightrdquo said Advocate Lakshmi Ravindra Kharghar residentResidentsrsquo associations and forums in Kharghar wrote to the PMC commissioner Their letter states that as per government orders CIDCO continued as the Planning amp Development authority in 2016 till the completion of development work ldquoAs PMC is yet to take over from CIDCO PMC shouldnrsquot charge the property taxrdquo the letter readAdvocate Balesh Bhojane who wrote the letter said ldquoServices in the property tax include special education sewerage water road development tree fire extinguishing etc These are being provided by CIDCO for which we are paying service charges The PMC has hardly spent anything to develop KhargharrdquoSanjay Shinde deputy commissioner and property tax incharge PMCBinu Thankappan Area Coordinator for Sector 34 Housing Society Chairmanrsquos Group Kharghar said ldquoWe urgently need clarity from municipal authorities regarding the methodologies used to charge and the justification for either Property Tax or Service Charge and not bothrdquoSanjay Shinde deputy municipal commissioner and Property Tax incharge said ldquoWe must understand that nearly 60 per cent revenue is generated through property tax We have added nearly 255000 properties from whom no property tax was collected so far Other properties part of the old Panvel Municipal Council were paying the tax Hence we decided to levy the tax retrospectively from 2016rdquo The PMC expects to earn around 90 to 100 crore more from this It currently earns around 34 crore Expenses towards the COVID19 pandemic in addition to regular expenditure like staff salaries have created a cash crunch for the corporation Shinde claimedldquoWe had written to CIDCO in November 2020 informing them that we are set to collect the tax and that they should stop charging service tax A decision on it is pending With regard to the claim of high tax rates we believe that only 5 per cent of the taxpayers have objections or concerns which we will resolve soonrdquoRs 100 crRevenue expected from levying of property tax25 lakhApprox no of homes the tax has been levied on