Ghaziabad: Following assurances from the municipal commissioner, the councillors have called off their sit-in protest over property tax issues.According to a GMC official, the auto-generated property tax bill, which is being sent to consumers at an inflated rate, will be stopped. “There have also been provisions made to offer a 20% rebate to consumers on property tax until Sept 30,” he said.At the centre of the standoff between councillors and GMC officials were the minutes of the June 30 board meeting, which the officials had previously withheld.Councillor Neeraj Goyal said, “Given the ongoing Kanwar Yatra, we called off the protest, and as per the understanding with the GMC official, we were assured by the municipal commissioner that on July 25, the minutes of the June 30 board meeting would be submitted to the Mayor.”A case was filed in the Allahabad HC against GMC’s decision to impose an increased property tax on May 22.Although the board has repealed the proposal, the matter is still pending in court. The increased property tax took effect on April 1. The property tax rates before April 1 were between Rs 0.32/sq foot on properties with less than 12m of road width, Rs 0.48 to Rs 2 for roads 12–24 metres wide, and Rs 0.65 to Rs 2.41 for wider roads. The revised rate is between Rs 0.75/sq foot to Rs 4/sq foot. In March this year, the board passed the proposal to link tax with the DM circle rate. GMC calculates tax based on the annual rental value (ARV) of a property.
