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Rajinder Nagarkoti
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, August 3
Amid political pressure from the BJP and the Congress over the imposition of house tax, UT Adviser Vijay Kumar Dev today maintained that the UT Administration would not withdraw house tax.
Talking to Chandigarh Tribune, the UT Adviser said the Administration would not give in to any pressure and would not withdraw house tax.
Dev said city residents were not against house tax, but they wanted quality services against such taxes. The UT Administration and the Municipal Corporation were committed to providing quality services, he said.
“As the head of the UT Administration, I will ensure the delivery of timely and quality services to the residents,” Dev said.
Meanwhile, city Mayor Poonam Sharma has written to the UT Adviser to withdraw house tax.
The letter written by the Mayor states, “In a large number of cases, elderly couples stay alone in big houses and they will find it extremely difficult to pay a hefty amount as house tax. Defence personnel were allotted plots as a special category, but they have not been exempted from the present levy, unlike Punjab and Haryana”.
“The corporation deserves a greater part of the funds received by the Administration from the Centre than what it gets at present. We feel no further tax burden should be put on the citizens,” the letter states.
Recently, the Congress had slammed the BJP and the Administration over the imposition of house tax. House tax committee chairman Subhash Chawla had resigned from the post in protest against the imposition of the tax.
BJP leaders had also taken up the matter with the Administration to reduce the house tax charges.
Cong to start protest from Sector 38 today
The Congress will start its city-wide protest against house tax from Sector 38 on Tuesday. The party will hold a rally and launch a signature campaign against the tax. Sector 38 falls in the ward represented by BJP Leader of the Opposition Arun Sood.