ESR's claim of beneficiaries of property tax discount for green building norms compliance doubling under PMC questioned
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Pune: PMC's latest Environment Status Report (ESR), published on Tuesday, shows that the beneficiaries of its 'green building norm property tax discount' doubled in the last six years.
However, are these effects reflecting on ground? This is the question being asked by citizens, activists and experts, while demanding better scrutiny of compliance from the civic administration.
The 'green discount' of 5-10% in property tax is offered to property owners who have installed solar and vermicomposting systems. Pune Municipal Corporation's (PMC) ESR data states that around 86,000 property owners benefited from it in 2019-20, rising to around 1.5 lakh in 2024-25.
Beneficiaries crossed the 1-lakh milestone in 2020-21 for the first time and remained above this mark till the last financial year (FY).
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But environmentalists pointed out that the civic body does not have a robust system to check if these green building facilities are even functioning properly.
Refuting this, PMC officials claimed they conduct surprise checks and direct property owners to maintain the facilities if any shortcomings are found during the visits.
As per PMC data, civic areas hosted around 8.5 lakh properties prior to 2017. After the merger of 11 villages, this increased to around 10 lakh. Thereafter, nearly 2 lakh properties were added to the tax ambit of PMC after the merger of 23 villages in 2021. At present, the total number of properties under PMC limits is at least 12.5 lakh.
PMC set a target of Rs2,492.83 crore in revenue from building permissions for FY 2024-25, and a similar expectation of Rs2,549.79 crore from the property tax department.
Interestingly, while the property tax department mopped up around Rs2,360 crore in this fiscal, the building permissions department surpassed its collection as well as its own target, drawing in around Rs2,600 crore.
In the previous 2023-24 fiscal as well, the building permissions department earned over Rs2,300 crore, surging ahead of property tax collections of around Rs2,268 crore.
Amid the evident rise in building permissions in the city, activists are insisting that vigilance must be heightened to ensure green compliance.
Social activist Vijay Kumbhar said that PMC needs to ensure regular inspections. "The civic body made this installation of green facilities compulsory, so many societies have done it. Now, PMC should make sure these are functional," he told TOI.
Suhas Patwardhan, chairman of the Pune District Co-Operative Housing Federation, echoed, "These facilities are the need of the hour. They are not only helping housing societies but are also good for the environment by reducing use of fossil fuels.
Our organisation creates awareness to promote such facilities in societies. However, the implementation definitely lacks consistency."
Avinash Sakpal, head of PMC's property tax department, told TOI, "The civic administration carries out surveys annually with the help of ward offices. If any property owner is found to have failed in maintaining the facilities, health officials of ward offices submit reports, and the tax discount is scrapped accordingly."
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