On 22nd December (Friday), Wagholi citizens have issued legal notice to the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) for cancelling property tax until proper civic services like roads, water supply, drainage system etc are provided.
As per further information from the legal notice, Advocate Pradip Solase has issued the legal notice on behalf of Anil Kumar Mishra, Founder of Team Wagholi Against Corruption Organization (WACO) & Resident of Neo City Phase 1 & Wagholi area.
The notice has been issued under section 487 of The Maharashtra Municipal Corporation Act.
Following are the key points mentioned in the notice:
Wagholi village got merged in PMC in July 2021. Since then, even after 2 years, no significant development has happened on ground up till now especially with regards to proper Roads, Water Supply, Drainage system and Garbage management in Wagholi.
Hence, the lives of Wagholi citizens are in danger every moment traveling on any road including without-proper-service road Nagar Road Highway also. Situation of the majority of the internal and connecting roads is pathetic, they are fully riddled with potholes, and waterlogging is a perennial problem that commuters face on these roads.
Wagholi citizens are not getting a single drop of water from PMC as on date and hence they have to spend crores of rupees every year to buy water from private water tanker suppliers.
Wagholi citizens have to pay private agencies to remove garbage as garbage disposal services, which are supposed to be provided by PMC, are non-existent. The problem is compounded by shocking level of open dumping & garbage burning in various public places including besides the roads also in Wagholi. There’s no proper drainage system in Wagholi, which leads to regular sewage overflow and the roads turning into streams at the first signs of rain.
While surviving with near-to-nothing basic services, Wagholi citizens are being sent Property Tax by PMC which is completely illogical & irrational. If there is no service (especially like no Water supply, no proper/developed Roads, no Drainage system whatsoever & no proper Garbage management) from PMC, then why such Tax components (like Water Tax, so high Road Tax, Sewage Tax, Cleaning Tax) are included in the Property Tax demand notice?
If Wagholi citizens are not safe & having accidents more often than not while traveling on the broken/underdeveloped roads, waterlogged roads overflowing from sewage from open drains, or oftentimes non-existent roads, why should PMC demand so high Road Tax?
Why illegally & irrationally PMC is issuing Property Tax bill with retrospective effect?
Why should Wagholi citizens pay any property tax components without any commensurate service being provided by PMC against the tax being collected?
So, in view of the above-mentioned reasons, the notice requests to waive off such Property Tax components for Wagholikars until above mentioned services are provided.
Along with cancelling property tax, following demands should be met by the PMC:
- PMC should publish their development plans with regards to providing these services in Wagholi, if any such plans actually exist, for the upcoming years.
- PMC should provide Water and other above-mentioned services as soon as possible.
- Removal of the Tax components like Water Tax, Sewage Tax, Cleaning Tax and Road Tax from the Property Tax bill for no (or near to nothing) services
- After removing these illegal and illogical Tax components, PMC should issue (send out) the corrected Property Tax bill to Wagholi citizens within time so that the he can pay out that corrected Tax amount as he is ready to pay other Tax components in the Property tax demand notice (bill) of Financial Year 2023-24.
- PMC should not collect any ‘retrospective’ Property Tax. Hence, PMC should not send out any Property bill like for Financial Year: 2022-23 in this/current Financial Year 2023- 24.
The notice further says that if the PMC will not revert on the above points and taking any action to remove above-mentioned Tax Components from the Property Tax demand notice (bill) and not issuing the Corrected Property Tax demand notice (bill), Wagholikars will take necessary legal action against the PMC in the appropriate court.
