New Delhi: Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Sunday slammed the Bharatiya Janata Party-led South Delhi Municipal Corporation (SDMC) for trying to hike four taxes at the time of the Covid-19 pandemic and demanded a rollback.
The standing committee and the commissioner of SDMC have already cleared the proposals and a final decision is to be taken by its House on Monday.
AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai said BJP should release a white paper clarifying where it has spent its funds. Calling the measures unfortunate, Rai, who is also a minister in Delhi government, said people were suffering from a massive economic crisis and the proposals betrayed Delhiites.
“The businesses have not yet fully started. Amid all these problems that have already made the lives of people miserable, SDMC is ready to impose this tax hike on the citizens of Delhi,” Rai said.
Increasing the professional tax means that doctors, engineers, chartered accountants and many others will have to pay more, while SDMC also wants to hike tax in unauthorised colonies, the minister said. “BJP is increasing the property transfer tax, too, that will hurt the middle class. Lastly, they have decided to increase the electricity tax,” he pointed out.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Kumar Gupta tweeted saying he had requested the mayor for a rollback. He also urged chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to provide funds to the municipal corporations according to the recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission.
Mayor Anamika Mithlesh said Gupta had spoken to her but Delhi government should also understand its responsibility. “They are not giving us funds, so how will we run the corporation? We require funds and that’s why we are looking for sources to generate revenues,” Mithilesh said.
However, Rai said, “Every time BJP says Delhi government has not paid the required amount to the municipal corporations, but it is a complete lie.” The Congress government in 2013-14 gave Rs 3,345 crore but under the AAP government from 2017-18, the corporations are annually getting Rs 4,667 crore, he claimed.
The CAG report has also said they had got Rs 3,815 crore extra loan, but “BJP has used all this money for their corruption”, Rai alleged.
AAP’s political affairs committee member Durgesh Pathak said AAP would go door to door to protest if the proposals weren’t rolled back.
The standing committee and the commissioner of SDMC have already cleared the proposals and a final decision is to be taken by its House on Monday.
AAP Delhi convener Gopal Rai said BJP should release a white paper clarifying where it has spent its funds. Calling the measures unfortunate, Rai, who is also a minister in Delhi government, said people were suffering from a massive economic crisis and the proposals betrayed Delhiites.
“The businesses have not yet fully started. Amid all these problems that have already made the lives of people miserable, SDMC is ready to impose this tax hike on the citizens of Delhi,” Rai said.
Increasing the professional tax means that doctors, engineers, chartered accountants and many others will have to pay more, while SDMC also wants to hike tax in unauthorised colonies, the minister said. “BJP is increasing the property transfer tax, too, that will hurt the middle class. Lastly, they have decided to increase the electricity tax,” he pointed out.
Delhi BJP chief Adesh Kumar Gupta tweeted saying he had requested the mayor for a rollback. He also urged chief minister Arvind Kejriwal to provide funds to the municipal corporations according to the recommendations of the Fourth Delhi Finance Commission.
Mayor Anamika Mithlesh said Gupta had spoken to her but Delhi government should also understand its responsibility. “They are not giving us funds, so how will we run the corporation? We require funds and that’s why we are looking for sources to generate revenues,” Mithilesh said.
However, Rai said, “Every time BJP says Delhi government has not paid the required amount to the municipal corporations, but it is a complete lie.” The Congress government in 2013-14 gave Rs 3,345 crore but under the AAP government from 2017-18, the corporations are annually getting Rs 4,667 crore, he claimed.
The CAG report has also said they had got Rs 3,815 crore extra loan, but “BJP has used all this money for their corruption”, Rai alleged.
AAP’s political affairs committee member Durgesh Pathak said AAP would go door to door to protest if the proposals weren’t rolled back.
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