Citizens from merged villages to hold stir over property tax issue

PUNE The residents from 32 merged villages have warned to hold agitations against the state government and the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for not keeping the promise of giving a waiver in the property tax.

As these villages were merged into the PMC, the civic body applied the property tax equal to other areas which the villagers opposed.

Earlier, chief minister Devendra Fadnavis and deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar had given a stay for collecting the tax and at the same time promised to increase it in a phased manner. However, no official communication was given on the issue, and the civic body has started the process of distributing new tax bills for 2025-26.

The Haveli Taluka citizens forum president Shrirang Chavan and other members Popatrao Khedkar, Sachin Chinde, Milind Pokale and Sandeep Tupe have warned to hold agitation on April 8.

“We demand that the new property tax should not be double the local gram panchayat’s tax while getting merged into the municipal corporation. Even the state government promised to give relief to citizens but on ground no official communication was sent to the municipal corporation,” they said.