Development eludes Sec'bad Cantt residents

Secunderabad: Even after paying heavy property tax and stamp duties, issues like lack of proper infrastructural development continuous to plague the residents of Secunderabad Cantonment. An RTI reply to a petition reveals that around 361 grievances under the tax section have been solved but the ground reality is that many issues are still pending since years.

Locals pointed out that the SCB has again planned to give extra burden by increasing property tax for residential property by 27 percent and 30 percent for commercial property.

Robin Zaccheus, an RTI activist, said, "The infrastructure development compared to GHMC is nowhere in line with Cantonment. People over here continue to suffer and still reside with British colonial norms. The RTI response received from the concerned officials of SCB stated that around 361 grievances under the tax section that were received from 2020 till the first week of September 2022 have been solved. But when I have asked how much revenue was collected and what is expenditure, the concern officials refused to answer."

"I was asked to file an individual RTI, but I have not received any information on the RTI. The concerned official stated that it is voluminous information and it shall divert very little recourses," added Robin

"SCB claims that the grievance received under tax section till date have been solved. But the ground reality is that most of the grievances are pending, as we continue to pay 11 percent stamp duty for registration of properties, while the GHMC residents are only paying 7.5 percent. Even if the SCB residents pay huge amount of property tax, they still lack proper facilities like lack of health centres, irregular water supply, no proper road connectivity and so on," said Suresh, a resident of SCB.