United Democratic Front (UDF) councillors in the Kochi Corporation on Tuesday staged a dharna before the office of the civic body protesting against what they termed as an unjustifiable proposal to hike the property tax.
Inaugurating the meeting, T.J. Vinod, MLA, said the attempt of the civic administration to overburden residents by hiking taxes shall be resisted. The civic body had steeply hiked the property tax in violation of all the norms, he said.
Antony Kureethara, the leader of the Congress in the council, said the civic administration was plundering the residents of Kochi. The UDF will give shape to a series of protests if the civic administration fails to roll back the flawed proposals, he said.
UDF councillors Sunitha Dixon, V.K. Minimol, Anthony Painuthara, Zakkir Thammanam and A.R. Padmadas spoke.
However, Mayor M. Anilkumar termed the protest as a politically motivated one, which was being held with an eye on the Gandhi Nagar bypoll.
The property tax was last revised in the Kochi Corporation during the tenure of the UDF. The order for revising the tax with retrospective effect was issued during the term of the Oommen Chandy-led UDF government. However, the proposal was not implemented due to various reasons, he said. Though the UDF-led council had issued notices for the revision of property tax on April 1, 2019, the then Deputy Mayor Mr. Vinod stalled the proceedings as an Assembly by-election was due in the Ernakulam Assembly constituency. Incidentally, Mr. Vinod was the UDF candidate in the election. The tax revision measures resumed soon after the bypoll, Mr. Anilkumar said in a statement.
Mr. Anilkumar also said the LDF-led council had adopted various steps that brought relief to the tax payers in the city.
