AP imposes ‘streetlight tax’

Hyderabad, June 13: The Andhra Pradesh government has imposed streetlight tax in view of the massive losses being incurred by the power utilities in the state. The streetlight tax will be part of the property tax and it will come into effect in July. In urban areas municipalities and corporations will collect the taxes and in rural areas the tax will be collected by gram panchayats. According to officials, each family may be burdened by Rs 50 to Rs 100 per annum depending on the property tax they pay. The urban and rural local bodies across the state, defaulted during fiscal 2014-15 in the payment of power bills amounting to Rs 170 crore pertaining to street lights alone. Of which only Rs 5 crore was collected.