E-Paper
40% rebate in property tax to continue: CM
Apart from Shinde, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Pune district guardian minister Chandrakant Patil and MLAs were present at the meeting
PUNE: Chief minister Eknath Shinde on Friday promised to continue with the 40% rebate on property tax which was recently discontinued by the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC). Shinde had called a meeting in Mumbai to discuss the rebate after the PMC recently issued notices to citizens for recovery of dues, drawing a sharp reaction from them. Apart from Shinde, deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Pune district guardian minister Chandrakant Patil and MLAs were present at the meeting.
“The chief minister has approved our demand and decided to continue the 40% rebate for citizens. The official proposal will be approved in the next cabinet meeting,” confirmed Pune mayor Murlidhar Mohol and MLAs Sunil Tingre and Siddharth Shirole.
Earlier on March 8, Shinde and Fadnavis had met Pune legislators Patil, Mohol, Shirole, Madhuri Misal and Bhimrao Tapkir among others to discuss continuing the 40% rebate.
When the PMC had first sent text messages to over 60,000 citizens last year, asking them to pay property tax dues in the wake of the decision to scrap the 40% rebate, it had faced severe criticism, forcing municipal commissioner Vikram Kumar to stop collection of property tax dues pending further orders. After Kumar putting the recovery of dues on hold last year, Patil had promised to resolve the issue through a meeting with officials of the urban development department (UDD). The Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) too had raised the issue in the Maharashtra assembly and blamed the PMC and the state government for not handling it properly.
About the chief minister’s decision to continue with the rebate, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) said, “It was the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) that discontinued the rebate and now it is continuing with it and taking credit for the same.”
