Activists welcome PMC’s decision not to announce amnesty scheme for property tax defaulters

With the current financial year drawing to a close and no announcement yet of an amnesty scheme for property tax defaulters, both activists and political leaders have welcomed the civic body’s decision not to announce such a scheme.

Civic activist Vivek Velenkar said, “We were opposed to this scheme as it is unjust to honest taxpayers. Regular taxpayers would pay their property taxes in the first two months of the financial year whereas defaulters would pay taxes in the last month of the financial year with the PMC refraining from fining them under the amnesty scheme.”

Velenkar said, “We sought information under the Right to Information (RTI) Act and found that almost 50% defaulters are the same people who are cheating the administration. We appealed to the municipal commissioner not to announce the amnesty scheme or at least make an amendment to it and announce that a person cannot take benefit of the same scheme twice. As the PMC has not yet announced the amnesty scheme, we are hoping that the administration has heard us.”

Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Ujwal Keskar said, “We opposed this scheme as it was an injustice to honest taxpayers. Even for the PMC, it was resulting in loss of revenue. Finally, the PMC is in a mood not to announce it.”

Meanwhile activist Sudhir Kulkarni said that there is some pressure from political leaders to announce the scheme but they are against it. Meanwhile, property tax department head Madhav Jagtap has suddenly gone on leave with just a few days remaining for the current financial year to end.