Shimla, May 11 (PTI) The Himachal Pradesh government has decided to continue charging water supply bills at rural area tariffs for the next three years in newly created and upgraded urban local bodies (ULB), providing major relief to residents.

The move is aimed at ensuring a smooth transition for residents of areas recently merged into ULBs will benefit 47,820 consumers across the state. In addition, residents of these areas are also being exempted from property tax, an official spokesperson said in a statement on Sunday.

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As part of the recent administrative restructuring, the government has constituted 14 new Nagar Panchayats namely -- Sandhol, Dharampur, Baldwara, Banikhet, Khundian, Kotla, Nagrota Surian, Kunihar, Jhandutta, Swarghat, Barsar, Bharari, Bangana and Shillai.

The Hamirpur, Una and Baddi Municipal Councils have been upgraded to Municipal Corporations while Nadaun and Baijnath-Paprola Nagar Panchayats have been granted the status of Municipal Councils.

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Several new areas have now come under the jurisdiction of ULBs, either through the creation of new bodies or by the expansion of existing boundaries.

The relief extended to these ULBs was aimed at saving the residents from sudden financial burdens due to urban restructuring, the statement added.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)