LUCKNOW, Oct. 4 -- More than one lakh taxpayers have applied under Uttar Pradesh's One-Time Settlement (OTS) scheme for clearing long-pending urban property tax dues. Urban local bodies have collected Rs.40.85 crore and provided relief worth Rs.67.33 crore to eligible beneficiaries so far, officials said on Saturday. According to data released by the urban development department, 1,00,006 applications have been received across all 762 urban local bodies in the state since the scheme was launched on August 15. Of these, 65,457 applications have been approved, while 32,737 are being processed. The scheme covers 17 municipal corporations, 200 municipal councils and 545 nagar panchayats, offering relief on outstanding house tax, water tax and sewer tax. The applications represent a potential demand of Rs.176.61 crore, against which Rs.40.85 crore has been collected so far. The average relief works out to around Rs. 10,287 per beneficiary. Residential properties account for 80% of applications Residential properties account for the largest share of applications, with 80,465 (80.5%) requests received in this category. These are followed by 11,158 (11.2%) applications for commercial properties and 8,382 (8.4%) for other categories. The scheme also allows taxpayers to clear their outstanding dues in up to three instalments. Urban development and energy minister AK Sharma said the scheme aimed to provide relief to taxpayers while improving the revenue position of urban local bodies. "The scheme is providing taxpayers a simple opportunity to settle old dues while helping urban local bodies recover their pending revenue in a time-bound manner," he said. The urban development minister urging eligible taxpayers to avail themselves of the scheme within the stipulated period. The One-Time Settlement scheme will remain open until December 15, 2026....