Mayor asks Tukaram Mundhe not to hike water tax

NAGPUR: Mayor Sandip Joshi has asked municipal commissioner Tukaram Mundhe not to increase water tax by 5% this financial year.
In a letter to Mundhe, Joshi said that people had lost their jobs or were not getting full salaries due to the lockdown. Businesspersons’ income had gone down sharply. Under such conditions, further burdening them with taxes was inappropriate.
Joshi said that municipal commissioner had the power to increase water tax by 5% every five years. However, he should postpone it by one year and do it from 2021-22. As permission of state government was needed for this purpose, a proposal should be sent to Mantralaya in this regard.
“The sky will not fall down for Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) if water tax is not hiked this year, but people will get a lot of relief,” he said.
“NMC is the guardian of people of Nagpur. It has to help them during times of their dire need,” he added.