■ Over 9.39 lakh assessments with pending dues

■ Arrears total to Rs 3,930 crore

Metro India News | Hyderabad 

The Telangana government is reportedly considering a new One-Time Settlement (OTS) scheme to ease the property-tax burden for homeowners across the state, starting with the Greater Hyderabad Municipal Corporation (GHMC).

The initiative aims to provide financial relief to poor and middle-class families, allowing them to settle arrears in a single payment with significant waivers on accumulated interest. Officials indicate that a formal Government Order (G.O.) may be issued within the next couple of days to operationalise the scheme for 2025–26.

Under the proposed plan, GHMC is expected to lead the rollout, as the civic body currently faces a significant backlog. There are over 9.39 lakh assessments with pending dues, with arrears totalling Rs 3,930 crore from 5.46 lakh assessments. Earlier, GHMC Commissioner R.V. Karnan had written to the state government requesting approval for the OTS initiative to recover outstanding dues while providing relief to struggling homeowners.

Past OTS programmes have seen strong participation, with GHMC crossing the Rs 2,000-crore mark in property-tax collections during the 2024–25 financial year, driven largely by arrear payments under previous OTS windows. Encouraged by these results, the civic body is now targeting Rs 500–600 crore in recoveries from the upcoming scheme.

State officials have also indicated that once the gram panchayat election schedule concludes, the government may extend the OTS scheme to all municipalities and municipal corporations across Telangana. This would provide uniform financial relief to urban taxpayers statewide and strengthen revenue mobilisation for local bodies.

If implemented, the new OTS framework is expected to offer substantial support to homeowners while helping municipalities and corporations recover long-pending dues efficiently. The scheme is likely to benefit a large number of urban residents, particularly those in the economically weaker and middle-income categories.