Sangareddy: Bigger tax burden looms on villages merged with civic bodies

Residents of villages that are being merged with municipalities are raising concerns over a potential increased tax burden after the merger.

Sangareddy: Residents of villages that are being merged with municipalities are raising concerns over a potential increased tax burden after the merger.

The State government recently decided to merge 51 villages located close to the Outer Ring Road (ORR) into different civic bodies. As part of the move, the government issued a gazette notification merging 11 villages in Sangareddy district with Ameenpur and Tellapur municipalities. While six villages, Ilapur, Ilapur Thanda, Kistareddypet, Patelguda, Dayara and Sulthanpur, were merged with Ameenpur municipality, the five villages of Muthangi, Pocharam, Pati, Ghanpur and Kardhanur were merged with Tellapur. While house taxes will be tripled, taxes on commercial properties will be doubled after the merger, according to official sources. For instance, the tax on a structure built on a 150-yard space will be increased from Rs.2,273 to Rs.6,336 while property tax on a structure built on 200 yards will be increased from Rs.4,388 to Rs.9,240.

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While the villages were not collecting taxes on vacant lands, municipalities will charge 0.5 to 0.8 per cent of the plot value. Meanwhile, all traders will have to pay trade license charges every year unlike in villages.

Meanwhile, the villagers of Muthangi and Kardhanur said they were opposed to the merger of their villages with the civic bodies since Tellapur was quite far away from their villages and there were no direct transportation facilities to Tellapur from their villages. However, the officials went ahead with the proposals, they said.

Speaking to Telangana Today, B Shekhar, a resident of Muthangi, said they would have to catch an auto in Muthangi to reach Lingampally, from where they need to take another auto to Tellapur. He said ordinary citizens would struggle to reach the municipal office. Traders were also worried about the increased tax burden. The villagers demanded that the government collect additional charges only after providing better facilities to them.

Tellapur Municipal Commissioner M Sanga Reddy said they would provide all facilities in the newly merged villages besides creating ward-level offices to provide all services to citizens at their doorstep. He said citizens could pay taxes online without visiting the offices.