Congress, AAP poised to corner BJP, administration over rise in property tax

Though the UT administration announced some reduction, the opposition parties, Congress and AAP, are planning to protest to demand rollback of the property tax hike in the House meeting on Wednesday.

A pre-House meeting of the Congress councillors was held on Tuesday under H S Lucky, president, Chandigarh Pradesh Congress Committee.

During the meeting, it was unanimously decided to demand a complete rollback of the property tax imposed by the Chandigarh Administration in collaboration with the BJP.

In the meeting, Lucky asked all Congress councillors to voice their protest strongly and unequivocally during the House meeting.

He reiterated the party’s consistent stance against the “arbitrary and unjustified” increase in property tax, emphasising that the Congress will not tolerate any such policies that burden the citizens of Chandigarh.

“The Congress has always stood with the people and will continue to oppose anti-public decisions like the property tax hike. This move is not only arbitrary but also detrimental to the welfare of the common people,” said Lucky.

“We demand a full withdrawal of the property tax and expect the BJP to clarify its position. If the BJP is truly concerned about public interest, they should support our demand for a complete rollback,” he added.

The partial rollback was not sufficient and that the Congress will continue to press for complete withdrawal, Lucky further said.

Meanwhile, AAP spokesperson and councillor Yogesh Dhingra said that his party also demands complete rollback of the hike in property tax.

“We are also going to protest against the agenda of increasing parking rates in the city. The residents were promised smart parking, but till the parkings are not converted to ‘smart’,” Dhingra added. Agenda to impose penalty for non-paytment of water bill.

Among the five issues in the supplementary agendas list of MC House meet, the agenda for imposing compound surcharge as penalty at 10 per cent of the water bill, will come up for discussion before the House on Wednesday.

According to the MC officials, the existing water supply bylaws, the penalty as surcharge in water bill is levied on consumers for delayed payments of water bill.

The surcharge is added in the next bill for delayed payments. However there is no provision for a compound surcharge on unpaid water bills/penalties due to non-payments in the consecutive cycle leading to persistent defaults by some consumers.

The MC officials have mentioned that as per the provisions of Clause 13 A (1) of Chandigarh Water Byelaws “a consumer who fails to pay the water charges by the due date shall be liable to pay penalty as 10 per cent of the amount of water charges due from the consumer”.

The civic body stated that it is therefore proposed that the existing provision may be substituted in Clause 13 A (1) to impose compound surcharge penalty/interest as “a consumer who fails to pay the water charges including arrears and surcharge/penalty thereto, if any, should be liable to pay penalty as 10 per cent of the total amount of water charges due including surcharge, if any due on the date from the consumer”.

Other agendas

• Approval/sanction for executing the lease deed on behalf of MC Chandigarh, with the private landowners for setting up modular-type sewage treatment plants for wastewater generated from village Faidan, Chandigarh.
• Selection of Hardicon Limited as agency in UT, Chandigarh for disposal of horticulture waste.
• Allotment of land for setting up a critical care block.
• (50 bed) in Manimajra.
• Proposal for the revised licence fee to erect or re-erect hedge and fences.