Members from the Visakhapatnam Apartment Residents Welfare Association (VARWA) and the Federation of Greater Visakha Residential Colonies Association (Nivas) alleged that the ward volunteers working with the State government, are demanding house plans for calculation of new property tax. The volunteers are trying to scare the residents by telling that 100% penalty would be levied if the plans were not submitted, they said.
Addressing the media here on Saturday, VARWA president Narava Prakasa Rao and General Secretary B.B. Ganesh said that the tax assessment for the houses was done based on the plans submitted at the time of construction or at the time of purchase. People have been paying the taxes regularly for the past so many years. When the plans are there with the GVMC, what is the need for the volunteers to demand house plans, they asked.
They said that the State government has announced that for all the existing houses, existing tax with an addition of 15% would be levied. The VARWA members also appealed to the GVMC to be people-friendly and not to levy penalties.
The CPI(M) activists staged protest on the same issue on Friday.
