Speaking to presspersons recently, Mayor Nandu Satam quashed rumours that BMC will hike property tax by 20 percent. Efforts were on to resolve the skewed pattern of property taxes in south Mumbai and the suburbs, he said, to provide relief to middle class suburban residents who are bogged down by huge assessment bills.

Under the present structure, property taxes weigh in favour of south Mumbai residents, ranging from as low as 30 paise per square feet to Rs three per square feet for new buildings in suburbs like Borivli. Moreover, while the city enjoys all civic amenities, suburban residents still complain about the lack of good roads and water supply. The corporation now wants to bridge this gap, said Satam.

``We want a clear record of the properties in Mumbai, their size and the year they werebuilt in,'' he said. ``Only after this will we be able to decide the rates. We are planning to create zones for uniformity, and are even considering taxing pre-1995 slum dwellers,'' added the mayor.

The BMC also recently sent a team from the assesment department to cities in southern India to study assesment structures there, and the team submitted its report to the municipal commissioner. But despite plans to streamline the assessment, collection still remains a problem due to corruption, admitted Satam.

Civic sources say property arrears run into hundreds of crores. Four hundred premises in four wards in the city owe the BMC over Rs 75 crore, and there are 23 civic wards in the city.