Conservancy charge, or garbage tax, and sewerage tax will be collected from all 41 wards of the Bidhannagar Municipal Corporation (BMC) and not just the planned areas of Salt Lake, officials said.

The conservancy charge has been pegged at 1 per cent and sewerage charge
at 0.75 per cent of the annual valuation of a property, a senior BMC official said.

The bills will be added to the property tax of residents living across Salt Lake, Baguiati, Kaikhali, Chinar Park and parts of Rajarhat that come under the Bidhannagar civic body.

The planned areas of Salt Lake come under wards 29 to 34, 37 and 39 to 41 of the BMC.

BMC areas in Rajarhat, Gopalpur, Baguiati, Chinar Park, Kaikhali, Mahisbathan, Polenite, Sukantanagar and the bheri areas behind it are not within the planned zones.

Debraj Chakraborty, the mayoral council member in charge of solid waste management and sewerage departments of the civic body, said the taxes will be
levied to increase revenue generation for the civic body.

“Till date, only houses in Salt Lake were levied the conservancy and sewerage charges. From this financial year, all households in the 41 wards of the civic body will have to
pay the charges. The earnings will be spent on buying or hiring equipment needed for daily disposal of solid waste, sweeping of streets and cleaning of the drainage and sewerage networks,” Chakraborty said.

According to him, the charges are going to be added to the property tax bills for the financial year 2024-2025.

After receiving the tax bills, property owners in the BMC area can pay online or offline with cash, cheque or a demand draft at designated bank branches in the BMC area or at the tax collection offices from 11am to 3pm on working days.

Those with property tax dues will have 10 per cent interest imposed on them, payable against due amounts till March 31. Officials said their target was to collect Rs 40 crore from property tax this fiscal.