Chhapra Municipal Corporation has revised holding tax rates for residential and commercial buildings following instructions from the urban development department.

The civic body has divided areas falling under its jurisdiction into three categories — A, B and C — and asked house owners to voluntarily provide the municipality with the width and length of their respective houses for assessment of the revised tax amounts. The owners would have to pay the tax once a year.

Buildings along main roads like Nagarpalika chowk- Joginia Kothi road, Nagarpalika chowk-Chhapra club road, Daroga Rai chowk- Rajendra College roundabout road, Bhagwan Bazar police-Siwan road, Gandhi chowk- Garkha railway crossing road, Town police station-Daroga Rai Chowk road will be in the A category, while houses along tertiary roads such as Pankaj Cinema road, Town police station-Mahmood chowk road, Mauna chowk- Sadha railway crossing road and Joginia Kothi-Sadha railway crossing will be in the B category.

The rest of the buildings will be in the category C.

Municipal corporation executive officer B.K. Sadanand on Wednesday told The Telegraph: “Under category A, the tax will be Rs 36 per sqft for commercial building. The tax amount for ‘half-commercial’ buildings and residential houses will be Rs 24 and Rs 12, respectively. Under category B, the tax amount for commercial, semi-commercial and residential buildings will be Rs 24, Rs 16 and Rs 8 per sqft, respectively.”

He added that under category C, owners of commercial, half-commercial and residential buildings will have to pay Rs 14, Rs 9 and Rs 5 per sqft, respectively.

Half-commercial buildings are houses that are used both for residential and business purposes.

The civic body’s move to restructure the holding tax structure and its decision to allow residents measure the size of their land, have not gone down well with many.

Western Commerce and Industries Association secretary Pawan Kumar Agarwal and vice-president Madan Mohan Maheshwari said the civic body was not pro-active and it should improve its ways of functioning.