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

A footpath seen in a state of disrepair in Kharghar

Kharghar residents have opposed the Panvel Municipal Corporation's (PMC) notice to cooperative societies regarding levying of property tax retrospectively from 2016 when the corporation was formed. The notice sought residents' objections/corrections in the matter.

Road resurfacing work in Kharghar

Residents said that double taxation should be avoided and that Kharghar node hasn't 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 4.

"The 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 light," said Advocate Lakshmi Ravindra, Kharghar resident.

Residents' associations and forums in Kharghar wrote to the PMC commissioner. Their letter states that as per government orders, CIDCO continued as the Planning & Development authority in 2016 till the completion of development work. "As PMC is yet to take over from CIDCO, PMC shouldn't charge the property tax," the letter read.

Advocate Balesh Bhojane, who wrote the letter, said, "Services 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 Kharghar."

Sanjay Shinde, deputy commissioner and property tax in-charge, PMC

Binu Thankappan, Area Coordinator for Sector 34 Housing Society Chairman's Group, Kharghar said, "We urgently need clarity from municipal authorities regarding the methodologies used to charge and the justification for either Property Tax or Service Charge and not both."

Sanjay Shinde, deputy municipal commissioner and Property Tax in-charge, said, "We must understand that nearly 60 per cent revenue is generated through property tax. We have added nearly 2,55,000 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 2016." The PMC expects to earn around '90 to '100 crore more from this. It currently earns around '34 crore. Expenses towards the COVID-19 pandemic in addition to regular expenditure like staff salaries have created a cash crunch for the corporation, Shinde claimed.

"We 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 soon."

Rs 100 cr
Revenue expected from levying of property tax

2.5 lakh
Approx. no. of homes the tax has been levied on