The Council of Ministers has approved a 'One Time Settlement' scheme for regularizing unauthorized water and sewerage connections and recovery of arrears of water and sewerage charges, besides settling pending dues of house/property tax for urban local bodies in the state.Disclosing this here today, a spokesperson of the Chief Minister's Office said the CoM okayed a proposal moved by the Local Government department during its meeting chaired by Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh.The spokesperson said under this scheme, it was proposed that the defaulters would be given a three month window from the date of notification of the scheme to deposit their dues with a rebate of 10 percent. These defaulters can also deposit their dues with normal interest during the subsequent three months. The department will initiate action against those who do not settle their dues even within six months of the OTS notification. The action would include disconnection and recovery of arrears with interest and penalty.Likewise, the department has also initiated OTS for regularization of unauthorized water and sewerage connection at concessional penalty and rates. It is estimated that there are about 15 to 20% of unauthorized water connections in all municipal towns of the state.
The CoM also gave its nod to One Time Settlement for settling of pending dues of house tax/property tax. Under this scheme, the defaulters will be provided three months’ window from the date of notification of the scheme to deposit their dues with a rebate of 10 percent. They can thereafter deposit their dues with normal interest during the next three months. If they fail to avail any of these options, the department will initiate action against them, which would include sealing and sale of property as per the provisions of the law. The total arrears for house tax and property tax stood at Rs.306.84 crore as on June 30, 2017.Consequently, the Urban Local Bodies has estimated a loss of Rs.110 crore per annum on this count and thus the department has moved a proposal to levy tax in this regard.In another decision, the CoM also extended the time limit of submitting applications under the Punjab Vesting of Proprietary Rights Scheme-2016. Under this scheme, six months’ time has been granted to the citizens to file their applications. The scheme had closed on March 14, 2017 and majority of the people could not avail the facility due to lack of publicity and assembly elections.