The Times of India 04.09.2012
‘Reduce penalty for illegal buildings’
being charged by the property tax department from citizens, who
constructed unauthorized constructions after January 2008, be reduced.The PCMC property tax department has started sending notices to the
owners of the unauthorized constructions directing them to pay a penalty
equivalent to the property tax of the structure, if it is an
unauthorized construction registered or detected after January 2008.
The
move has created resentment among people as they will have to pay
double tax for the unauthorized constructions.Former mayor Yogesh Behl
said while the civic general body had rejected the proposal for
charging penalty from citizens, the civic administration went ahead with
the move. “The penalty amounts to double the property tax for these
citizens – the amount is exorbitant and unaffordable for them. The civic
body is not charging any penalty for the unauthorized constructions
built before January 2008.
The penalty amount should be reduced, Behl
said at the general body meeting.Shiv Sena
corporator Sulabha Ubale and Congress corporator Bhausaheb Bhoir, too,
demanded that citizens should not be charged any penalty.At the meeting, municipal commissioner Shrikar Pardeshi,
said, “The general body, in March last year, had rejected the proposal
to charge penalty from the owners of unauthorized constructions.
Instead, they had demanded that the unauthorized structures constructed
before March 31, 2012, be regularized on the lines of the regularization
done in Ulhasnagar.
However, the state government rejected this
proposal.”Pardeshi said the proposal rejected by the general
body in March last year has been annulled by the state government that
has directed the civic administration to charge penalty as per the
proposal, he said.Speaking to TOI on Monday, Shahji Pawar,
assistant commissioner, PCMC, said, “There are around 1.10 lakh
unauthorized constructions in the city but only 40,500 were constructed
after January 2008 and are eligible to be charged a penalty. The
department has started sending notices regarding penalty to the owners
of these constructions. We will complete sending all 40,500 notices in
three months.”Meanwhile, the office-bearers of the ruling Nationalist Congress Party (NCP)
will meet deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Tuesday to discuss the
issue of penalty being imposed on unauthorized constructions in Pimpri
Chinchwad city.
