THANE: Several women and senior citizens from Mumbra Devi Colony in Diva were locked inside their flats on Thursday afternoon by property tax officers from the Thane Municipal Corporation for not clearing their property dues in time. Sources said that the civic officials took the extreme step owing to pressure to meet the tax collection deadline.The residents complained that no advance notice was issued to them for clearing the property dues. It was only after local activists intervened and residents threatened to call the police that the civic team relented.“I received a call from a few women from the society about this sudden drive of the property tax officials. When we checked and found that the civic officials hadn’t issued any notices and were locking residents inside their homes, we threatened to call the police after which they changed their stance,” said BJP activist and local resident Adesh Bhagat.Dismissing the allegations, assistant municipal commissioner of Diva Mahadeo Jagtap instead blamed the society residents for ‘cooking up the story’ to avoid paying taxes. “The residents have consistently defaulted on tax payments. Why would we target residents who have paid their taxes?” he said.

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