Property tax, water charges hiked for commercial units in

Vadodara

Vadodara, Jan 31 (PTI) Vadodara Municipal Corporationtoday proposed 120 per cent hike in property tax and 25 percent hike in water charges for commercial units.

The hike in property tax would yield Rs 35 crore and thatfor water charges would generate additional income ofRs 2 crore.

Manoj Kumar Das, Municipal Commissioner of VadodaraMahanagar Seva Sadan (VMSS) earlier known as VadodaraMunicipal Corporation (VMC) said, "there is no proposal forincrease in residential property tax or water charges forresidential purpose."

Das presented Rs 1,518 crore budget for 2011-12 toShabdasharan Brambhatt, chairman of the standing committee ofVMSS for approval.

Talking to the newsmen after presenting the draft budgethere today, Das justified the hike in the property tax andwater charges.

He said that there is an additional yearly burden ofRs 90 crore in salary on account of the 6th Pay Commission andthe collection from octroi has been hit since 2007 aftergovernment decided to scrap the levy from limits of the citymunicipal corporation.

The Gujarat government has assured the municipalcorporation to provide grant of Rs 200 crore for city�sdevelopment, out of which Rs 100 crore have already beenreceived, said Das.