The Hindu 01.10.2009
Corporation’s decision to tax plots angers councillors
Staff Reporter
| Say the move will place a burden on public |
AIADMK councillors wanted to roll back the hike in plot tax
MDMK, DMDK councillors oppose resolution, stage walk out
ERODE: Erode Corporation Council, which met here on Wednesday, saw some acrimonious debate and walkouts over a resolution on taxing vacant plots.
At the monthly meeting the Corporation in Resolution 16 said it proposed to tax plots under its jurisdiction, as per Government Orders 205 of August 6, 2009 and 151 of August 20, 2009 and subsection 10 of Section 8 of Erode Corporation Act 2008.
It said vacant plots in residential areas and on streets and lanes could be charged between 20 and 40 paise a sq.ft., those on major roads and bus routes between 30 and 50 paise and plots on roads with bylanes and those on lanes of roads branching off from bus stand between 40 and 60 paise.
The Resolution also said it applied to local bodies that come under ‘A’ grade and as Erode was a Corporation the aforementioned charged applied. It further said that under its jurisdiction Erode Corporation had 724 plots with a demand of Rs. 2.89 lakh. Commissioner B. Balachandran told The Hindu that at present the civic body charged one per cent of the registration value of plots. As that varied from locality to locality, the Government to bring in uniformity issued the Government Orders fixing the slabs.
Further, the Resolution said it would be appropriate for the civic body to fix the tax value at the higher end that is at 40, 50 and 60 paise respectively, as the current demand of Rs. 2.89 lakh was very low and that more plots needed to be assessed.
Councillors objected to the Resolution saying it would be a burden on the public. Ward 23 Concillor Radhamani Bharathi registered her opposition in writing saying it would be a burden on the public.
Many AIADMK councillors too wanted the Council to roll back the hike in plot tax.
Led by N. ’Market’ Raja the Councillors staged a walk out. Councillors from MDMK and DMDK also joined.
However, not all councillors opposed the resolution. Congress Councillor from Ward 30 H.M. Jaffar Sadiq supported the Resolution saying it was important that the civic body adopted the Resolution because it would be difficult to do so after annexing neighbouring civic bodies to become a full fledged corporation.
At the end of the meeting, with opposition from a few councillors, the Council adopted the resolution.
