Telangana CM plans to hike property tax following improvements in Villages and Cities services.

Days after hinting at jacking up the power tariff and other taxes, chief minister K Chandrasekhar Rao declared on Friday at the assembly that property tax would be hiked in gram panchayats and municipalities.

According to the chief minister, the TRS government had the guts to first tell the people and then raise the tax and power tariff, claiming that tax hike was appropriate to provide better services to citizens and also to improve villages and cities. But he said the hike would not burden SCs, STs and poor people who use less than 101 units of electricity per month. “Tax hikes are only to be levied on those who can afford to pay,” he reiterated.

Speaking in the assembly during a brief discussion on ‘Palle Pragathi,’ the chief minister said that the money generated by the tax hike would be used to enhance village and city facilities. He did not, however, take GHMC’s name while talking about raising property tax in municipalities.

He also declared that the government will receive Rs 1,847 crore grants for rural development from the 15th Finance Commission for the 2020-21 fiscal years. The government had agreed to give panchayats an equal sum of Rs 1,847 crore — a first since Telangana was formed— he said.

KCR has allocated Rs 40 lakh to 899 panchayats each having a population of less than 500.

KCR added “We trust the individuals who have been granted the power of self-certification. If they demonstrate incorrect estimation, the fine would be imposed twenty-five times higher and they would be liable for two years imprisonment under sew Municipal Act.” He said the latest Municipal and Panchayat Raj Laws will be incorporated.