HYDERABAD: The State government has extended the deadline for One Time Settlement (OTS) scheme on property tax arrears by one-and-a-half months. The deadline has been extended from September 16 to October 31, 2020. The scheme allows waiver of 90 per cent of accumulated arrears on the interest component of property tax in all the Urban Local Bodies (ULBs), including Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).
Initially, the State government had introduced the scheme for 45 days (August 1 to September 15). However, GHMC, in a letter addressed to the government, asked for an extension, stating that the civic body had taken all necessary measures by sending SMSs, making phone calls and other modes to ensure that the scheme was utilised.
In spite of the measures, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the expected target has not been reached. GHMC Deputy Municipal Commissioners say that they receive a lot of applications and appeals from tax payers daily, and their resolutions are a time-consuming process, and it especially takes time to correct records in the online database. A similar situation exists at other ULBs in the State.
GHMC requested the State government to extend the OTS for another 45 days. They said it would benefit the tax payers and also provide time to GHMC officials to settle the various issues, improve the revenue and get the arrears filtered, purified and streamlined, Of the 11.5 lakh property tax defaulters in all ULBs across the State, around 12 per cent (1.40 lakh) defaulters have utilised the scheme until Sunday. Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, many defaulters were experiencing financial difficulties and unable to pay the dues.