Heavy property tax collection frustrates Shamshabad residents

Hyderabad: As the Shamshabad Municipality officials go to every house to collect property tax from the citizens before the financial year ends, the number of grievances is also increasing.

The residents complaints about miscalculation, delay in re-assessment, heavy tax collection and delay in taking action on grievances. They say that they are unable to pay tax online due to technical glitches in the website.

One such complainant, T Srinivas, is employed in a private company, residing in Kothwalguda. "Without any notice or re-assessment, higher rates of property tax are being collected; earlier it was Rs 4,550 and now it is Rs 9,540 even though no additional construction or modification was taken up to my house. Even my neighbours are facing the same issue. Complaints have been lodged, but no action has been taken," he said.

Another resident, Rajesh Reddy, who owns a three-storey building in Shamshabad said, "to inquire about the property tax rates and to know the assessment process after the implementation of new Municipal Act 2019, several times we visited the nunicipal office and the website, but not a single issue has been resolved or heard by the officials; the website always shows technical glitches."

The Shamshabad municipality was constituted in 2018 and declared an urban local body (ULB). There are 21 wards. The total population as per Census 2011 is 44,651, The civic body wasformed by merging six gram panchayats---Shamshabad and its peripheral five gram panchayats which include Thondupally, Ootpally, Chinna Gollapalli, Kothwalguda and Satamrai. Shamshabad municipality is located near the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. It is on the Nehru Outer Ring Road and National Highway 44. Shamshabad town has Umdanagar railway station which connects Secunderabad to Bangalore.