Sensing trouble and budging under mounting public pressure, the president of Kharar Municipal Council (MC) Sukhwant Singh today assured the agitated traders that the civic body would cancel the assessment, and withdraw the bills issued to them. The MC chief added that the matter would be resolved at a special meeting of the civic body to be held before January 17.

Beopar Mandal, which is spearheading the protest against the levy, has served a week’s ultimatum to the council to formally withdraw the property tax, failing which traders will launch a massive agitation.

Sukhwant and MC vice-president Jai Bhagwan Singla, along with municipal councillors Shashi Lamba, Jagjeet Singh and Kamal Kishore Sharma, have supported the traders’ demand. They plan to call upon Chief Minister Parkash Singh

Badal and Cooperation Minister Capt Kanwaljit Singh to demand tax exemption.

After meeting the municipal chief and the councillors at the MC office today morning, Beopar Mandal representatives, Ashok Sharma, Naresh Singla, Vinod Kapoor and Rajinder Aggarwal, conveyed the decision at a general house meeting of the traders held at Nanoomal Dharamsala in the evening.

Several traders, who are protesting the hefty bills running into thousands of rupees as annual property tax on commercial units, pressed for a token strike for withdrawal of the levy.

Leaders of Beopar Mandal, however, insisted that traders must wait for a week, since the civic body has sought time for resolving the issue.