The Hindu         20.01.2011

No going back on property tax: Mayor

Staff Reporter

Heated debate: TDP and Congress corporators protest against hike in
property tax at the special meeting of GVMC council in Visakhapatnam on
Wednesday. — Photo: C. V. SUBRAHMANYAM

Mayor Pulusu Janardhan Rao said that there was no going
back on the hike in property tax and appealed to members of all
political parties to cooperate in the collection of revised taxes for
development of the city.

After a marathon debate for more than four hours on
‘property tax’ at the Council Hall of Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal
Corporation (GVMC) on ‘property tax’ at the Council Hall on Wednesday,
the Mayor made this observation and left the hall amidst protests by the
Opposition members.

The Opposition members, however, demanded roll back of the hike and staged a protest outside his chamber.

Earlier, the house witnessed heated exchanges between the ruling and Opposition members.

MLC MVS Sarma said that no pre-condition was set in the
Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) guidelines for
release of funds.

He found fault with the ruling party members and the officials in trying to link the tax hike to release of funds.

He alleged that the officials were spreading a
misinformation campaign that the JNNURM funds will be stopped if the tax
was not hiked. Interrupting the MLC, Congress member Banala Srinivasa
Rao wanted to know whether the former would make the people pay the
revised tax if there was link between funds and tax hike. There were
heated exchanges between the Opposition and ruling party members on the
issue for sometime.

Deputy Mayor Dora Babu said that a Gazette notification was made and a G.O. was issued on property tax hike.

A note was also circulated among the council members but the amount of hike was not specified.

GVMC Commissioner V.N. Vishnu said that a tripartite
agreement was reached with between the Government of India, State
Governments and the local bodies for implementation of JNNURM. The MoU
was non-negotiable but admitted that the reforms had not specify about
the amount of revision in taxes but only wanted tax collection in a
scientific manner

Telugu Desam Party Floor Leader in the GVMC Pattabhi
wondered who was vested with the responsibility of revision of taxes —
the bureaucrats, the Government or the Council. CPI Floor Leader A.J.
Stalin recalled that it was resolved by the council that the hike
shouldn’t be more than 50 per cent. Congress Floor Leader Behara
Bhaskara Rao said “We had all either knowingly or unknowingly agreed to a
50 per cent hike in property tax and now we can’t go back on it. JNNURM
has led to the development of the city as never before and not
respecting guidelines would mean losing crores of rupees.” Senior
Congress Corporator Koppula Venkata Rao felt that instead of taxing the
public, the corporation could generate revenue by collecting taxes from
the Gangavaram Port and Visakhapatnam Steel Plant, reducing expenditure
and not allowing contractors to form a ring and deprive the GVMC of its
revenue.