It’s UT! BB Cantt residents to cough up tax on property

TNN Bureau. Updated: 11/17/2019 10:51:54 AM Front Page

WAJAHAT SHABIR

Srinagar: Residents in the areas falling under Srinagar’s Badami Bagh Cantonment Board have been asked by the authorities to pay property tax ranging between Rs 4,000 to Rs 20,000.

It is for the first time that authorities have asked residents living in different areas falling under the jurisdiction of Cantonment Board to pay property tax, which has driven a strong resentment from the people.

The areas which have been asked to pay the property tax include Athwajan, Indira Nagar, Shivpora, Palpora and other parts of Sonwar area.

“I was shocked to receive property tax from the Cantonment Board. I have been living in Indira Nagar from last so many years, but it is for the first time I have received such kind of bill”, said Owais Mir.

He added “we don’t know what to do with this bill. I have received the bill of over Rs 12,000 and it is so shocking as I feel there is no such facilities that are being provided by the Cantonment Board that deserve tax to be paid”.

“I had gone to the office when I reached back home in the evening, my family members handed me the bill that has been given by the Cantonment Board and I was shocked to see it”, said Tahir Bhat, a resident of Batwara.

He added, “My bill reads that annual ratable value is Rs 90,245 and annual property tax at the rate of 10 per cent reaches up to 9,245 rupees. And, I don’t understand what I have been charged for as there are no high-tech facilities going on here in our and other localities”.

Tahir further said: “I approached one of the officials of the board. He said that they are following the model of Union Territory, one that is in Pondicherry. But, there and in other Union Territories the basic drainage system and other civic bodies’ facility are well maintained and up-to-date”.

Meanwhile, a senior official at the Cantonment Board told TNN, “All the basic facilities to residents falling under the jurisdiction of Badami Bagh Cantonment are provided by the Board be it civic or other means and we are simply following the rules that became applicable here in Jammu and Kashmir after the region became Union Territory”.

He added, “Moreover, we are carrying forward the directions from the Ministry of Defense (MoD). So, the bills issued to the residents stand fully justified,”


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