Jammu, Feb 25 : The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir, Manoj Sinha, said on Saturday that citizens' welfare is the foremost priority of the government and the newly-introduced property tax will ensure financial self-sustainability of the cities and improvement of public amenities in the Union Territory, said an official statement. Sinha said: "Our cities must witness rapid development and emerge as engines of growth. For that, financial self-sustainability of cities is necessary. Property tax in J&K will be one of the lowest in the country and will be used for improving public amenities in J&K." "Implementation of property tax shall be done in consultation with the general public. Common citizens' interests will be protected," he added. On Thursday, the J&K government had said that all the poor and marginalised people having small houses with built-up area of not more than 1,000 sq ft have been exempted by the J&K government from paying any property tax to be levied from April onwards. On Tuesday, the J&K government had issued a notification which said that property tax will be imposed in the Union Territory from April 1, 2023. "In exercise of the powers conferred by Section 71A of the Jammu and Kashmir Municipal Act, 2000 (hereinafter referred to as the Act), read with Sub-Section 1 of Section 65 and Sub-Section 1 of Section 73 thereof, the government hereby notifies the following rules for levy, assessment and collection of property tax in the Municipalities and Municipal Councils of the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir," read the notification issued by Housing and Urban Development department. "These rules shall be called Jammu and Kashmir Property Tax (Other Municipalities) Rules, 2023. These shall come into force from April 1, 2023," it added. /IANS