/The period of 20 per cent rebate on property tax provided by the Municipal Corporation of Dehradun (MCD) will end today. The corporation did not extend the rebate period this time unlike in the previous year due to the imposition of the model code of conduct (MCC) in the state for the Assembly election, as per the mayor Sunil Uniyal 'Gama'. Despite the target of collecting the property tax of Rs 50 crore, the corporation has collected about Rs 28 crore in this financial year so far. In the financial year 2019-20, the corporation had collected the property tax of about Rs 45 crore but in 2020-21, the corporation could only collect about Rs 38 crore. In this financial year too, the MCD has collected only a little over half of the set target of the property tax collection. The officials have stated that the Covid-19 pandemic has affected the collection from the commercial bodies like restaurants, hotels and stores as their businesses remained severely affected during the pandemic.

According to the municipal tax superintendent Dharmesh Painuly, the number of residential property taxpayers has certainly increased in the MCD and some commercial properties were also re-registered as residential properties. If the corporation receives the pending property tax of about Rs 15 crore from several government, non-government and aided organisations in March, the corporation will easily attain the set target. He said that the corporation has sent bills to such properties and the tax collection will certainly increase before the end of the present financial year.