The Hindu 11.12.2010
Call for unified struggle on garbage tax
Staff Reporter
VIJAYAWADA: Only a unified struggle against the collection of tax on garbage lifting will force the State government to stop its implementation all over the state, opined speakers here at a round table on Friday. The meeting, convened by the Tax Payers Association (TPA), termed the levying of user charges on garbage lifting “undemocratic and unlawful”.
Initiating the discussion, TPA president V. Sambi Reddy said that the Corporation was collecting conservancy tax, which was part of property tax for maintaining sanitation in the city. Collection of a separate amount for the same service will only burden the people, and, hence, the proposal should be scrapped immediately, he said.
TPA secretary M.V. Anjaneyulu said that the State government issued GO 973 directing the Municipal Commissioner to take necessary steps for collecting user charges on municipal solid waste management. The city was chosen for experimenting on this. If the tax collection became a success here, the State government will implement it all over the State, he said.
Former floor leader of the CPI (M) in the VMC general body Ch. Babu Rao termed the garbage tax as a new tool to loot the public money by the Government. The servces being offered by the urban local bodies had not been improved but they have been mooting new tax proposals.
