Three villages to hold panchayat for property tax waiver

Gurgaon: The department of urban local bodies has finally notified the property tax waiver for Bandhwari villagers. Chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had announced the waiver around six months ago.
The tax waiver is meant to serve as compensation for the waste treatment plant that operates from there. Villagers are, however, unhappy with the development. They are of the view that the notification has only been issued with an eye on the election year ahead.

They also expressed disappointment over the fact that the two neighbouring villages — Gwalpahari and Baliyawas — found no mention in the notification. The three villages are now planning to hold a joint panchayat to discuss the matter, while they wait for the notification on electricity bill rebate to arrive. On April 13, Khattar had announced a 50% rebate on electricity bills and property tax waiver for the next five years for Bandhwari residents. “The government has taken away 860 acres of land from our village. A five-year property tax waiver would not compensate for that,” said Sanjay Pradhan, a resident of Bandhwari.

Dheeraj Tanwar of Gwalpahari said the government had assured them benefit would be given to all the villages. “A majority of the people in our village did not pay taxes after being issued notices, as we were expecting the waiver. We will have to decide our future course of action now,” said Tanwar.

The councillor of the area, Mahesh Dayma, said, “We had approached the chief minister asking for the property tax waiver to be extended to the other villages as well. But he said it would only be applicable to Bandhwari, as that’s where the plant is located,” said Dayma.