Tax relief on cards for rural areas merged with MC

Ambika Sharma

Tribune News Service

Solan, October 25

The state government is mulling tax exemption in the rural areas, which will be merged in the new Municipal Corporation at Solan and other towns, such as Mandi.

The Urban Development Department is working out the nitty-gritty of the exemption. A similar tax exemption was extended in Shimla for a few years, when it was upgraded to a Municipal Corporation.

As the residents of rural areas that are proposed to be merged in the new Municipal Corporation expressed reservation about the imposition of taxes, the state government is keen to provide them some relief. Its duration is being pondered upon and it is likely to be finalised soon.

Public objections have been filed, after a draft notification proposing to merge eight panchayats lying in the precincts of Solan was issued on August 24. The proposal was mooted to achieve the required criteria of 50,000 population, as Solan Municipal Council has a population of 39,256 as per the 2011 census. These eight panchayats — Anji, Kotho, Chambaghat, Saproon, Padag, Basal, Salogra and Kather — have a population of 23,722.

Secretary, Urban Development, Rajnish Kumar, said, “The details of upgrading Solan to a Muncipal Corporation are being worked out, and efforts are being made to merge only those rural areas that are urban in character and exempt the areas abounding in arable land. The issue of tax exemption in the merged areas is also being worked out.”

KC Chaman, Deputy Commissioner, Solan, has been directed to furnish the khasra numbers of rural areas, lying in the precincts of Solan, for their inclusion in the Municipal Corporation.

Chaman said the state government had taken care of the objections filed by the residents, whose areas were proposed to be merged, and the constitution of the Municipal Corporation was in its final stages.

With the civic body polls slated to take place at the year end, the government was likely to notify the new Municipal Corporations at the earliest, Chaman said. Their reservation roster too has to be worked out. This will be a major achievement of the state government, as formation of Municipal Corporation has been a long-pending demand of the residents.