GURGAON: Even as the MCG has extended the deadline for payment of property tax, DLF and other private builder area residents have refused to pay up. Residents say they will not budge till the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) takes over these areas from private builders.

The civil writ petition filed by the Gurgaon Citizens Council (GCC) on the issue comes up for hearing in the Punjab and Haryana high court on Monday.

According GCC, which is an umbrella body of various resident welfare associations in the new Gurgaon area, the MCG should first start providing them services like water, roads, and streetlights, among others, before they start paying property tax. They also said they have to pay twice – first the maintenance charges to the private builder and then to the MCG.

“We have decided not to pay the property tax as the case in this regard is still pending in the court. The next hearing is on Monday. We are hoping to get a respite from the court. Why should the residents suffer by paying dual tax?

Paying maintenance to the private builder is understandable because they are providing us services, but why should we pay tax to the MCG when it is not providing us even a single service? We hope the court will look into the matter and give us relief,” said R S Rathee, president, GCC.

The MCG authorities, on the other hand, insist that all private builder area residents should pay property tax like the rest. “The municipal act states that the even they have to pay tax because we provide them other services like the construction and demolition waste plant that we are planning to set up. Even these residents can send the C&D waste to this plant and avail the benefit. Moreover, we will take over these private builder areas one day or the other,” said a MCG official.

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