Days after Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray sounded Shiv Sena’scampaign bugle for the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) polls by waiving property tax on flats up to 500 square feet in Mumbai, its ally Congress on Tuesday said the decision should be implemented from 2020 and not from 2022.
“We want to congratulate the Chief Minister for announcing this decision, but we want to draw his attention to repeated demands made by Congress in 2021 not only on waiving the tax from 2020 but also to cut down 60% property tax on flats and commercial shops with area of 501 to 700 square feet,” said Mumbai Congress chief Bhai Jagtap.
Mr. Thackeray’s announcement on January 1 was seen as the Sena’s new year gift to Mumbai residents and also an indication that the party has begun its campaign for the civic polls.
Mr. Thackeray had said that his party had made the promise in its manifesto for the 2017 civic polls and he was fulfilling it.
The Opposition Bharatiya Janata Party too has already demanded that the waiver should be applied from the time promise was made and not from 2022 only. The Congress on Tuesday wrote to Municipal Commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal and Mr. Thackeray reiterating its demands.
“Mumbai Congress had made this demand by writing letters on January 15, 2021, March 15, 2021 and June 17, 2021. I hope that our demand will be fulfilled,” he said. Mr. Jagtap has also opposed the BMC’s decision to conduct future meetings of the civic body online.
