Mumbai:
In what could be the only case of its kind, thousands of residents of Kharghar are in a fix over payment of property tax. After paying the Service Tax to City and Industrial Development Corporation (CIDCO) for a decade, the two Gram Panchayats in the area have started demanding property tax, that too with arrears over the same period. Things reached a boiling point when the Kharghar and Owe Gram Panchayats held back the birth, death and marriage certificates to residents of Kharghar till they cleared the long "overdue" payment of property tax.
A delegation of Kharghar Housing Societies Federation (proposed) called on Divisional Commissioner, Konkan division SS Sandhu on Wednesday to get the problem resolved. "The Gram Panchayats which do not provide any services to residents are now demanding the property tax. We got a shock when the recovery notices were slapped on residents, failing which, the local body threatened to stop issuing all the vital certificates, which are the most essential documents on one's life," said Nerul corporator Netra Shirke, who is also a member of the Kharghar Residents' Association.
The Gram Panchayats did not stop at just issuing notices. They actually stopped issuing the certificates. Several families have gone through the trauma due to this over the last few months, Shirke added.
The residents are facing problems for some months now and the dispute continued despite instructions from the district collector to resolve the matter. "We had approached Guardian Minister Ganesh Naik and requested him to intervene. Responding to our pleas, he convened a meeting of officials concerned at Mantralaya a fortnight back, and asked the district collector and SDO to look into the matter," Shirke said. But the errant Gram Panchayats continue to issue notices, she added.
According to Shirke, all the basic amenities like drainage, roads, street lights, solid waste management are provided by CIDCO. The planning agency recovers Service Tax in lieu of property tax. "Since we purchased the houses from CIDCO and the agency is providing all the services, it is logical to pay the tax to the agency. It is difficult to understand why the Gram Panchayats want to recover the tax after a decade," another member said.
During the meeting, Sandhu assured the delegation that he will personally look into the matter. "He immediately called the officials concerned at the Gram Panchayats and instructed them to start issuing the certificates immediately. We hope to get the same in a couple of days," Shirke said. The delegation comprised president of the federation KN Sharma, vice president DA Patil and others.
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