Chandigarh administration considers property tax rebates for those installing solar panels, ET RealEstate

<p>representative image</p> — representative image

CHANDIGARH: Property tax in Chandigarh looks set to increase, but there’s a silver lining for residential property owners. The administration is considering offering a rebate on property tax to those who install solar panels.

This initiative, in collaboration with the municipal corporation, aims to encourage the residents to install solar panels under the PM’s Suryaghar scheme. The administration is in the final stage of finalising the modalities with the central government for the scheme.

“Since the three departments of the UT – municipal corporation, finance department, and Chandigarh renewable energy and science and technologies promotion society (CREST), are directly involved in this initiative of financial rebate on the property tax, a meeting was held under the chairmanship of UT finance secretary. All the officers and representatives of the three departments shared their respective aspects along with its impact. Since the financial aspect is most crucial, as the property tax is the major revenue source for MC, the civic body explained in detail about all its tax position and its financial ramifications,” sources said.

After the meeting, the MC submitted the entire property tax sheet, number, and details of the residential properties of the city from where the annual property tax is coming to the MC, along with the details of the collection of revenue.

“Moreover, since this facility of annual rebate is being considered for a long period of time, how much financial benefit through rebate has to be given to the public is a major point of discussion. Also, the calculations from all aspects are being done before taking any decision in this regard,” sources said.

5-10% rebate?

Pune, Indore, and Bhopal provide this rebate, sources said. The range of the property tax rebate is 5-10% of the total tax. “Since Chandigarh’s property tax is less compared to these cities, the proposal of the tax hike in Chandigarh is also underway, and the discussion is directly connected with this rebate proposal too,” sources said. Sources also revealed that the authorities concerned in Dharamshala are also considering introducing around a 10% rebate on tax there for those who install solar panels.

Making it clean

As per records, the Chandigarh administration has installed 89.689 MWp (megawatt-peak) in the city. By doing this, the authority has managed to reduce 18,64,794 MT (million tonnes) of CO2.

SOLAR PLAY (In MW)

Financial Year——–Total Commissioned—–Total installed, to be commissioned

2011-2012————-NIL————————————-NIL

2012-2013————-0.159————————————0.159

2013-2014————-1.4—————————————1.4

2014-2015————-3.050————————————3.050

2015-2016————-2.173————————————2.173

2016-2017————-2.978————————————2.978

2017-2018————-11.281———————————-11.281

2018-2019————-7.332————————————7.332

2019-2020————-5.839————————————5.839

2020-2021————-8.827————————————8.827