GUWAHATI: In the joint efforts of the Guwahati Municipal Corporation (GMC) and Assam Power Distribution Corporation Ltd (APDCL), arrangements are made to link the holding numbers of the property owners with the consumer numbers of APDCL by December this year.
In a press conference GMC Mayor Mrigen Sarania said on December 2, while APDCL has a total of 330,000 consumers in Guwahati, not all the consumers are registered with GMC as GMC has only 280,000 holding numbers.
“GMC will seize the property if holding numbers are not linked with APDCL electricity bill and if the GMC tax is not paid,” said Sarania adding by December end if holding numbers are not incorporated in APDCL bill, the electricity connection of the consumers will be disconnected.
He also said that at present, the GMC has a total holding number of around 2,80,000 (two lakh eighty thousand) but last year only 85,000 (eighty-five thousand) holding number owners paid the property tax.
“Property tax is the main source of revenue for the GMC. The development of Guwahati has been hampered by the absence of proper collection of these taxes and the valuation of assets. In this regard special programme has been taken up by the GMC for awareness among citizens,” said Sarania.
Guwahati Municipal Corporation will organise three camps in each ward in a phased manner from December 3 and will be named Seva Kendras. These service centres will provide services such as attaching consumer numbers to the holding number, applying for self-assessment of property, and collecting taxes by common-served centres (CSC) under the supervision of the ward council.
The Guwahati Municipal Corporation has introduced a special exemption scheme on property tax from December 5. Through this scheme, taxpayers whose taxes before the last two years (before the financial year 2020-21) have been unpaid will be exempted from their outstanding taxes to 50% if paid between December 5 to December 20. Thereafter 30% and 15% respectively will be exempted till the end of December.
After December, if the tax is not paid, the property will be seized and even the electrical connection will be disconnected.
Citizens can find holding numbers, link them to APDCL and make tax payments through https://gmcpropertytax.com
Holding numbers can be availed and tax can be paid online from now on, said the Mayor.
