Navi Mumbai: Villagers’ protest march from Kharghar to Panvel against PMC property tax collection

Villagers under the Panvel Municipal Corporation (PMC) will take out a protest march at 11 am on March 11 from Kharghar to Panvel against the collection of property tax by the corporation. Villagers are opposing exorbitant high rate of property tax slabs for villagers and they showed the inability to pay. They alleged that the civic body is collecting taxes for many services it does not provide.

They are also demanding the 29 villages from Kharghar, Kalamboli, Kamothe and Taloja MIDC falling under the PMC should be excluded and for this, the state government can hold a referendum.

Under the aegis of 95 NAINA villages and other PAPs, villagers from 29 villages under the PMC will take out the protest march.

In the first week of February 2022, representatives of villagers had threatened to take out a long march from Kharghar to the civic headquarter if the tax collection proposal is not withdrawn.

Villagers alleged that the rate of property tax has increased five times from what they were paying to the Gram Panchayat.

Now, many villagers are not in a position to pay property taxes with five years arrears. The PMC was formed in 2016 and the civic general body had cleared a proposal of property tax collection. However, the civic body decided to collect since it came into existence.

Published on: Friday, March 11, 2022, 10:57 AM IST