Hyderabad: The Telangana government's plan to combine a few pockets of civilian land in the cantonment with the GHMC was an attempt to avoid paying the Secunderabad Cantonment Board (SCB) surcharge of Rs 100 crore on transfer of property tax (TPT), professional tax, and entertainment tax, a board official has said.
The official told Deccan Chronicle that the surcharge was levied on the registration of property during sale and purchase. Surcharges on property transactions at the sub-registration office in the Bowenpally and
Marredpally areas was to be shared between the SCB and the government. However, the Telangana government collected the surcharge while not paying its share to the SCB.
The merger is posing a number of issues, including how the GHMC would manage more land when it already lacks the necessary resources to meet the requirements of its residents.
The SCB authorities argue that they are in a better position to give its residents better facilities. The Telangana government embezzled Rs 100 crore in tax share that was supposed to go to the board, according to a SCB officer, therefore their options are limited.
"GHMC is already overburdened and disorganised, in contrast to SCB, which has a system that works far better. These are merely clever games the state government is playing to divert attention away from our requests for the provision of basic sanitation, water, nalas, and roads to SCB households. The state government must take up the merger issue without any conditions,” an SCB official remarked.
He continued by saying that the state government was wasting time by distracting citizens' attention with merger talks and that the GHMC has entire freedom to proceed with road works and other necessary advancements in the SCB without any interference.
The cantonment area as a whole will not be merged with GHMC, according to a top SCB official, and the authorities themselves are unsure of what the state government is considering.
"To my knowledge, there are no discussions or agreements on the termination of the Cantonment Board, even if the merger takes place. Discussions are taking place to integrate the GHMC with the SCB's notified civil areas. However, it is up to the government to look into and carry out a number of decisions, such as what will happen to the SCB, who will look after what areas of land, how the funds will get managed, etc,” said SCB CEO B. Ajith Reddy.
