Model Village Chak Shahzad, located in the suburbs of Islamabad, was developed by the Capital Development Authority (CDA) in the mid-1980s. However, the CDA has yet to provide the usual civic facilities found in any developed sector of the capital city.

Following the introduction of the local bodies system in 2015, the administrative control of the villages, including M.V. Chak Shahzad, was taken over by the Metropolitan Corporation Islamabad (MCI). The MCI has been levying property tax at the same rate as the properties located in the city’s G-series sectors. In M.V. Chak Shahzad, about 1000 housing units built on plot sizes of 233 square yards and below are owned and occupied by low-income, serving and retired employees/pensioners, small daily workers, media personnel, etc., on a self-occupation basis. These owners were given a 75% rebate on property tax paid annually.

Recently, the MCI has announced that the 75% property tax exemption provided by the federal government to retired house-owners in previous years will be reduced to 10%. This drastic step by the MCI is likely to severely affect retired house-owners who are already struggling to make ends meet due to the ever-increasing cost of goods and services.

To avoid undue hardship to the elderly and ailing retired house-owners living in small houses in M.V. Chak Shahzad, the MCI is requested to maintain the 75% tax exemption as before, enabling them to live peacefully in the final years of their lives.

M. SHARAFAT ALI ZIA,

Islamabad.