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Journalism of Courage
Around a decade after property tax was imposed on commercial property,the Municipal Corporation is yet to get its share of incentive promised by the Administration. Even as the civic body has approved a proposal for imposing House Tax on the city residents,the 50 per cent incentive that was to be given by the Administration is yet to be received by the MC.
The tax on commercial property was imposed with the condition that the Administration would give the MC a 50 per cent incentive on the amount collected as taxes. This amounted to around Rs 8.5 crore annually. However,the grant has never been received from the Administration.
While this used to be a part of the expected grants from the UT Administration in the budget every year,the budget for the financial year 2013-14 has mentioned the expected amount as nil.
Councillor Davesh Moudgil says,The Municipal Corporation should take up the issue with the UT Administration and the rightful claim of the civic body should be received. Despite the promised grant not being received,the proposal to impose House Tax has been passed in an arbitrary manner. The city residents are unnecessarily being burdened.
Former Mayor and Congress councillor Pardeep Chhabra said that the MC is at the mercy of the Administration. When the Administration was approached for a matching grant earlier,the civic body was told that there is a fixed deposit of Rs 500 crore that was not being utilised by MC.
Over the years,the fixed deposit has declined. In wake of the Administration not giving the requisite grants,money is being withdrawn from the fixed deposits to be used for various projects. In fact,apart from the grant that was to be provided in lieu of the property tax collected,the grant in aid being received is also not adequate.
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