MC starts camps to regularise water, sewerage connections

The Amritsar Municipal Corporation has announced a one-time settlement (OTS) policy for city residents to regularise unauthorized water and sewerage connections and clear property tax dues without paying any interest or penalty. To facilitate this, the MC will organise special camps across various constituencies of the city from June 20 to 30. Around one lakh unauthorized water and sewerage connections were taken by residents across the city under various development schemes, such as Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), Atal Mission for Rejuvenation and Urban Transformation AMRUT and South-East Projects. However, these connections were not regularised, leading to revenue losses for the MC. The upcoming camps will allow citizens to get these connections regularised easily.

Additional Commissioner Surinder Singh, following the directions of Commissioner Gurpreet Singh Aulakh, chaired a meeting with officials of the Water, Sewerage and Property Tax Departments to plan the execution of these camps. He instructed the officials to ensure wide publicity of the initiative through announcements and hoardings in the respective areas and to work in coordination with area councillors to ensure maximum public participation.

The Additional Commissioner said camps will be set up in the western, southern, northern, and eastern parts of the city. In the western zone, the first camp will be held on June 20 at RB Estate, Loharka Road. In the southern zone, the camp will be held on June 23 near Gurudwara Atari Sahib, opposite the School of Eminence (Girls), Sultanwind village. The northern zone camp is scheduled for June 24 near Escort Hospital, in front of Green Land and close to a local gurdwara. The eastern zone will host its camp on June 25 at Gurdwara Guru Teg Bahadur in Rajesh Nagar. Again, the western zone will have another camp on June 26 at RB Estate, Loharka Road. The southern zone will have its second camp on June 27 in front of Anand Bakery near Kot Mit Singh on Tarn Taran Road. The final camp in the northern zone will take place on June 30 at Laxmi Vihar near Kali Mata Mandir.

He said the Punjab Government has implemented a OTS scheme to collect property tax dues from previous years. Under this scheme, residents can pay their outstanding dues without any interest or penalties until July 31. Staff of the Property Tax Department will also be present during the camps to assist residents in clearing their dues.

The Additional Commissioner appealed to residents to take full advantage of this facility. He warned that those who fail to regularise their water and sewerage connections or pay property tax dues within the given period may face legal action and disconnection of their services in the future.

Amritsar