Residents of newly merged villages have refused to sign consent forms for property tax claiming that they don’t receive basic amenities like water supply, electric poles, proper roads, and garbage collection and disposal in their area.
They claimed that the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) is threatening them to forcibly sign the consent forms regarding property tax, or else they will take legal action against the residents.
The residents expressed their frustration, claiming that they don’t have representation, their issues are yet to be resolved, and there is a lack of information regarding property taxes available in the public domain.
“We don’t want to escape the taxes, but we want a representative from this area, and not much information regarding property taxes is available in the public domain. Initially, PMC rolled out consent forms to residents of the newly merged villages to accept or reject the proposed property tax. Some of the residents were misled by the belief that this is compulsory and there is no option. So, some went ahead and signed the forms, while for others like me, I consulted a few people I knew to understand what the implications were. I was told that if they rejected this form and stated that the calculation of this property tax was not acceptable, they could sign and explain why it is not acceptable."
"So, in my case, I said that there are currently no facilities being provided by PMC. We were also told that once you reject it, there will be a meeting set up by PMC to understand your concerns. Historically, I have been given to understand that in this situation, there is a counter made by PMC where you have no option to reject, and at this point, a message was circulated in the society that if residents fail to sign the consent form, they will be taken to court,” said Akhil Patil, a resident of one of the merged villages.
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Pending taxes
A PMC official said that the civic body has yet to recover ₹1,245 crore in tax from the merged areas. The civic administration had organized a drive to seal the properties of defaulters, but it was stopped after local leaders and residents complained about the heavy charges in March 2024, before the Lok Sabha elections. Owners of around 9.16 lakh properties have paid tax, but nearly 5.05 lakh owners are yet to make the payment. Of the total payment, ₹990 crore has been collected online, while around ₹610 crore has been collected via offline methods, including cheques and cash.
Sachin Bharadwaj, a resident of Marvel Ganga society in Wagholi, took to social media to express his frustration, saying, “The civic administration has not been providing facilities to the merged areas. Facilities like good-quality roads, water, garbage collection, and sewage treatment are not available. A few years ago, our village was merged with PMC, and now they are threatening residents to forcibly sign consent forms for property tax, or else it seems they will take us to court."
“Why was this consent form sent? Is there a law that forced them to send this to all newly added residents? Does anybody know what this law is? What happens when people dissent? There will be thousands, if not lakhs, who have dissented across all the villages?” asked Bharadwaj.
The letter issued to the society by PMC read, “PMC Tax Invoice Bill has not been generated. To generate the invoice, residents must collectively visit the PMC office and accept the notice. Failure to comply may result in PMC filing a court complaint, requiring listed members to appear in court.”
Abhijit Waghmare, ASI, PMC, said, “We sent a notice for the registration of the property to the newly merged villages, and I’m aware of the issue. We have requested the residents to come to PMC to discuss the issues.”