To

Sri Uddhav Thackeray,

Hon’ble Chief Minister,

Maharashtra

Dear Sir,

With this petition, we would like to draw your kind attention towards the injustice done by Pune Municipal Corporation at a time when we are coping up the with COVID and resulting business impact, job losses, psychological impact of lockdown etc. On 12th July 2020, Pune Municipal Corporation sent SMS messages for arrears due for house tax to some of the residents of Amanora Park Town, an Integrated Township Project built under Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, sending shock to several thousand residents who are flat owners in this township. On checking, the website, many residents came to know about the arrears.

Amanora Park Town is situated in Hadapsar, Pune and houses more than 4500 families. It was under village Sade Satrah Nala Gram Panchayat till 2018. The Gram Panchayat of Sade Satrah Nala came under Pune Municipal Corporation with effect from 2018. Zila Parishad conducted an assessment for the period prior to PMC with one of the Gram Panchyat to assess previous arrears. Amanora Park Town management has confirmed to the residents that gram panchayat dues has been lawfully cleared post agreement with zila parishad and all documentations are in place related to this clearance of dues

Subsequent to this, Pune Municipal Corporation, which took over Gram Panchayat from 2018, did assessment again and sent property tax bills to resident valid from 2018. PMC not only wrongfully applied Gram Panchayat tax again which was lawfully cleared earlier by Amanora Park Town but they additionally applied taxes which as per our understanding does not carry discounts applicable to such integrated townships violating the Urban Development notification No.TPS-1818/1349/CR-229/18/20(4)/UD-13 clause 12.8 dated 20/11/2018.

 At a time when common people like us are struggling to put things together for our survival, approx. 4500+ families which have noticed the bills are in deep distress. Not just it is a matter of shock and surprise to Amanora residents, it has raised huge concern and anguish among the adjoining areas and many other law-abiding citizens over the arbitrary and unexpected actions undertaken by Pune Municipal Corporation. This also casts a shadow in the way the district and PMC is being governed. In addition, this lowers the confidence of investors, builders and property buyers at a time when our state needs more investment and growth under your leadership.

Further to this, we would like to also bring in the point that at a time when state is struggling for finances, such actions by Pune Municipal Corporation will only discourage genuine and legitimate taxpayers from immediate settlement and take legal recourse and other means permissible under the law of the land to prevent the exploitation. Such delay and dispute is neither good nor beneficial for anyone and is a lose-lose situation.

We would further like to reiterate that we have great hope from you. Your government in a quick time has gained confidence of many and we appreciate your ways of handling various challenges faced by our state and you have proven the point “when going gets tough, tough gets going”. We are a sizeable electorate of this constituency and our ecosystem is big. We will remember your support and cooperation to deal with this situation and humbly request you to take immediate steps for a win-win solution. We ensure cooperation and commitment from our side to take every step towards the betterment of state and the people.

Hence we demand the following:-

1.      Immediate withdrawal of the current arrears and any interests due by Pune Municipal Corporation.

2.      Follow the applicable laws under Integrated Township Project for applicability of taxes if any.

3.      Withdraw the taxes of Grampanchayat which as per Amanora Park Town has already been settled. This is between Amanora and Grampanchayat/PMC to settle and not with residents.

4.      Ensure that liabilities in the form of infrastructure charges paid to Amanora and taxes to Municipal corporation does not  put the people staying in such integrated township in a disadvantageous situation.

5.      Amicable settlement of this matter between Amanora Park Town Management, Residents of Amanora and PMC to the utmost satisfaction of all stakeholders.

Thank you and  Jai Hind

Citizens Group of Amanora Park Town