The Hindu 02.09.2010
Call for property tax on commercial buildings
discussing plans: Mayor P. Karthikeyan presiding over the monthly meeting of the Vellore Corporation.
VELLORE: Councillors cutting across party lines demanded the levy of appropriate property tax on new commercial buildings and those coming up in different parts of Vellore in order to augment the revenue of the Vellore Corporation and the resources to undertake development schemes, at the monthly ordinary meeting of the Corporation Council here on Tuesday.
R. Sathiyamoorthy (Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) wanted to know whether the Corporation had levied property tax on the new commercial buildings, and whether the property owners got Corporation approval for constructing basements. The Corporation, which acted so quickly to levy tax on residential buildings immediately after the construction of the houses, did not evince interest on big commercial buildings, he said. G.G. Ravi (All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) wanted to know what action had been taken against the property owners who had constructed basements without the permission of the Corporation.
P. Karthikeyan (DMK), Mayor of Vellore, who was in the chair, condemned the Town Planning Officer of the Corporation for winking at the construction of basements by commercial property owners without the approval of the Vellore Corporation. S. Dayalraj (DMK) wanted to know what action had been taken against the construction of the basement by a property owner on Katpadi Road.
N.A. Balasundaram (Desiya Murpokku Dravida Kazhagam) wanted to know whether the Corporation had implemented the proposal to fix meters for commercial water connections.
K.R. Selvaraj, Corporation Commissioner, said the Corporation was carrying out the systematic procedure of checking whether the water connections had been brought under the tax net, and then bring under the tax net those connections which were operating without paying tax. Then the connections on commercial premises which were not classified as commercial water connections were converted into commercial connections, and meters fixed for them.
Water tax would be levied on these commercial connections, based on their consumption, from September onwards. Mr. Balasundaram wanted the water connection number to be prominently displayed in front of premises. Mr. Selvaraj said that the Corporation had now prepared estimates for displaying the nameboards of roads and streets.
P.P. Jayaprakash (Congress) urged the Corporation to install two lamp posts which were sanctioned for Karuvattumandi area about three-and-a-half years ago. He said the borewell was damaged when an excavator machine removed the soil which had covered the borewell behind the Murugan Temple in his ward. He wanted steps to be taken to repair the borewell. He requested the Corporation to pay a compensation of Rs.1 lakh to the family of a person who died when he fell into the pit dug for the underground drainage scheme in Vellore.
Gopi (DMK) wanted the Corporation to install a statue of freedom fighter Kodayidi A. Kuppuswamy Mudaliar in Thottapalayam where he lived. T.A. Mohammed Sadique (DMK), Deputy Mayor supported the demand for installation of the statue. Mr. Gopi said that though the laying of water distribution pipelines was sanctioned for Balaji Nagar, it had not been laid so far. He urged the Corporation to lay the pipelines and supply water from the ground level reservoir in Sarbanamedu.
R. Arunachalam (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) alleged that the Constituency Develoment Fund (CDF) of the Vellore MLA had been apportioned to different wards in a “partial manner.”
He wanted the fund to be apportioned to the various wards in an impartial manner. Though he sought the digging of deep borewells in his ward under the CDF, it had not been sanctioned, he said. Mr. Arunachalam and Gopalakrishnan of MDMK walked out of the council hall protesting against the “partiality” in the apportionment of the CDF to the various wards.
