3 years tax relaxation for people of merged area of Palampur Corporation: Minister

Dharamshala: Urban Development, Town Planning and Housing Minister Suresh Bhardwaj said that the residents of the merged area of the newly created Municipal Corporation Palampur will not be taxed for three years. Addressing a press conference in Palampur on Friday, Minister said, “While giving relief to the people of the merged area, the state government has decided that they will not have to pay any kind of house or other taxes for the next three years.” He said that this would not mean that there would be no development of the Municipal Corporation. He said that according to the draft and rules of the Municipal Corporation, the development work of all the wards will continue regularly and equally. The government property and the property of the panchayats such as community buildings, panchayat buildings etc of the merged Panchayats, will be included in the municipal corporation now . The government, in a notification, ordered the transfer of all assets of 14 panchayats in the vicinity of Palampur to the newly formed Palampur Municipal Corporation. It had already merged these panchayats with the corporation, following the approval of the state Cabinet in November 2020.

Bhardwaj said that with the formation of Municipal Corporation, the pace of development of rural areas in Palampur will increase manifold and these rural areas will soon be seen in a new and developed form.

He said that more than Rs 2 crores of funds have been made available for development works of Palampur Corporation area and there will be no shortage of funds for development work here. He said that with the formation of Palampur Corporation, the merged areas shall also get the benefit of development works such as street lights, sewage, solid waste management, etc. He said that there is a provision in the 15th Finance Commission to provide more funds for development to urban bodies. This will give more momentum to the development of these areas.

The Himachal Pradesh Cabinet in October last decided to upgrade the Municipal Councils of Mandi, Solan and Palampur towns to Municipal Corporations by inclusion of adjoining area. Himachal Pradesh have only two Municipal Corporations earlier, namely Shimla and Dharamshala.