The Pioneer 09.11.2013
MCD announces revised house tax for 2013-14
The MCD's budget for the financial year 2013-14 was also presented in the board meeting presided over by the Mayor of Dehradun, Vinod Chamoli on Friday. As per the revised house tax, residential buildings of the city were categorised into four categories: A,B,C and D. Seventy-five paise per square feet monthly tax would be imposed on category A, 50 paise per square feet on B category, 30 paise per square feet on C category and 20 paise per square feet on category D.
This categorisation of the areas was done on the basis of way of construction of the houses in that particular area. The houses constructed for high class people were kept under category A, for medium level in B category B, for lower level in C category and slums in D category.
The posh areas like Race Course Road, Govind Nagar Road, Haridwar Road, Tegh Bahadur Road, EC Road, Nehru Road, Subhash Road, Ravindra Nath Tagore Marg-I and others were kept in category A, Nardev Shashtri Marg, Amrit Kaur Road, Acharya Narendra Dev Marg, Mohini Road and other areas were put in category B, Patel Road, Nayagaon, DAV Road, Nalapani Road and some other areas were included in category C while the slum areas including Nayi Basti at Race Course Road, Rispana, Nayi Basti Shivaji Marg was categorized under category D.
Meanwhile, the councilors of the ruling and Opposition party opposed the MCD's decision and asked the mayor to form only two categories. Opposing the decision of raising the house taxes, some councilors called it injustice to general public. They said that development should not be done by levying extra taxes on the public. Replying to the councilor's opposition, Chamoli said, "We are leaders of the city and should always be ready to take tough decisions for development.
House tax has not been amended for the last 15 years and we are raising the house taxes to ensure proper development of the city", he said.As per the MCD budget Rs. 8.40 crore has been sanctioned by the administration out of which around Rs 2.5 crore would be needed monthly for the MCD. He said that MCD is facing an economic crisis due to lack of sufficient income and due to the ban on the two per cent stamp duty. Mayor said that a revised budget will also be presented later on.
He said that rental based value assessment should be completed in six months to implement the revised house taxes. He further said that vegetable vendors who set stalls in the city would now be charged taxes by MCD. In the board meeting, a sum of Rs 51.17 lakh was passed for beautification of the Clock Tower in which around Rs 10 lakh would be paid by MCD, approval to free hold the plots allotted in teachers colony was also given.
The board also approved construction of Smriti Van and a residential scheme near Mussoorie diversion.
