In a clear case of apathy, only four of the 24 legislators turned up for a meeting called by suburban collector Shekhar Channe on Wednesday to present their views on the Ready Reckoner (RR) rates of property in the suburbs for the year 2016.
In 2014, too, only three MLAs had turned up for the meeting.
RR rates are the prices of land, and residential and commercial properties for any given area defined and published by the state government each year on January 1—it usually rises by 12-15%. A state official said that there are indications that the government could hike the RR rates by at least 20% as it wants to generate more money from the revenue department.
The four legislators who turned up for the Wednesday’s meeting—Atul Bhatkhalkar, Ashish Shelar and Bharti Lavekar from BJP and Ramesh Latke from Shiv Sena—urged Channe not to hike the RR rates. “A hike would mean more revenue for the state exchequer, but the government should not increase the rate for flats measuring less than 800 sqft,” said Bhatkhalkar.
Shelar agreed. “Instead of increasing the RR rates, they should work out a middle path wherein the government earns revenue without burdening the taxpayers,” he said. Instead of charging heavy stamp duty on built-up or super built-up area, it should be reduced below 5% and charged on carpet area, he said.