Assam Urban Affairs Minister Ashok Singhal on Tuesday said that the property tax will be collected as per the proportion of growth of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the state.

Singhal informed the state assembly during the ongoing budget session.

While replying to zero-hour notice from Congress member Kamalakhya Dey Purkayastha on the third day of the session, he said, “We have reformed the property tax collection system in all the towns across the state. According to these reforms, the property tax will be fixed as per the growth of GDP in the state.”

He then stated the varied property tax levied on different districts of the state.

He said, Rs. 2,400 per 1,000 sq ft is collected as property tax in Dibrugarh, Rs. 10,600 in Barpeta, Rs. 18,506 in Tinsukia, Rs. 11, 600 in Jorhat, Rs. 5,500 in Bongaigaon and Rs. 2,500 per 1,000 per sq ft in Goalpara, Rs.352 in Kharupetia, Rs.7,600 in Moran and Rs. 420 per sq ft in Mariani.

“Urban Local Bodies have the liberty to determine the property tax in their respective municipality areas. These are local self-government. The state government has no role to play here,” Singhal said.

“Due to non-assessment of property tax, the municipal bodies have been facing a financial crisis. We want the property tax to be collected by each municipality board according to the proportion of GDP growth,” he added.

Singhal said, “We will set up plants for disposal of all legacy wastes in all 102 municipality areas of the state. All the municipality bodies will have their plant to dispose of legacy wastes for treatment, processing and rehabilitation through a process of bio-mining.

It may be mentioned that the budget session of the Assam Legislative Assembly is currently underway. The budget session began on March 10 is scheduled to carry on till April 5. A total of 14 sittings will take place this session with state finance minister Ajanta Neog set to release the state’s budget for the fiscal year today.