Curation Team
CHANDIGARH: Terming the issue as directly related to revenue generation, the UT administration appears unwilling to either withdraw or decrease the property tax hike. With the new financial year underway, all financial works, reports, and related exercises have commenced in the municipal corporation (MC) according to the established process and procedure, without reconsidering the increased property tax, and making this segment of tax a major source of its own income.
Sources said that officers of both the UT administration and MC are firm on not withdrawing the hiked property tax at all. In fact, the tax branch of the MC has already started its paperwork as per the hiked tax amount by revising the rates to impose fresh tax on all the residential and commercial properties. “All the required entries against each property, falling in the tax ambit, have been installed in the system with the fresh charges,” sources said.
Moreover, terming that BJP is directly conniving with the Chandigarh administration to impose the steep hike, both opposition political parties, Congress and AAP, are all set to target BJP inside and outside the MC. The leadership of both political parties has already held meetings to plan to target BJP in the upcoming general house meeting.
Congress councillor Gurpreet Singh said, “The people of Chandigarh know that BJP and the administration have connived on this issue. Bringing the agenda in the general house was the main step of the BJP’s plan, so that it could be sent to the UT administration after getting it rejected. This step to bring an agenda has exposed the BJP on this issue. If the agenda was not brought in the house meeting, there was no question of this matter going to the UT administration for any decision.”
While speaking to TOI, AAP’s Hardeep Singh said, “What was the urgency to bring the agenda in the house meeting? During the tenure of AAP’s mayor, no agenda to hike the tax was brought in the house at all. By bringing an agenda in the house, BJP paved the way to hike the tax through Chandigarh administration. Our party is legally examining the issue to challenge it in a court of law. We will expose the BJP on this.”
