Thousands of city residents who have not paid property tax for the years 2008-09 and 2009-10 heaved a sigh of relief with the Haryana government deciding to extend the amnesty scheme till June 30 this year. The scheme ended on December 31 last year. Residents now don't need to pay any penalty if they pay property tax for the two years by June.

A notification issued by the urban local bodies department (a copy of which is with TOI) to all the municipal corporations, councils and committees across the state says that the amnesty scheme has been extended till June end.

Municipal commissioner VS Dahiya, while talking to TOI a few weeks ago, said that the Municipal Corporation of Gurgaon (MCG) had already requested the state government to extend the amnesty scheme till March 31, 2013 as thousands of residents have not paid property tax since 2008 because of discrepancies in the manner in which the corporation had calculated the tax. Thousands of objections raised by the residents are pending with the MCG office at present.

Dahiya also said that the existing house tax policy has some discrepancies and the residents have not paid property tax since 2010-11 due to prevailing confusion. Seeking a clarification from the state government, Dahiya has sought to repeal the discrepancies.

In order to encourage residents to pay the tax, the MCG is taking steps including tie-up with private banks in the city where residents can deposit the tax amount through cheque, demand draft or cash.

"There are conflicting reports of who has to pay the tax and the amount that needs to be paid. The way the MCG has calculated the tax is not foolproof and that's why most of us have not paid. Moreover, the objections we had raised have not been resolved so far. Hopefully it's done before the amnesty ends," said Rakesh Sharma, a resident of Palam Vihar.