The Delhi Congress on Monday alleged that the municipal corporations were pressurising people to pay house tax, instead of giving them relaxations after the COVID-19 pandemic and extended lockdown.
Delhi Congress vice-president and leader of the Congress party in the South Delhi Municipal Corporation, Abhishek Dutt, said the civic bodies have also issued notices to shopkeepers and traders, without the consent of the House.
“Most people did not come out of their homes due to the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns last year and this year, and without any source of income as shops and business establishments were shut for long periods, they could not pay the taxes. It is inhumane on the part of the civic bodies to demand double the tax amount from defaulters, instead of finding some method to offer them relief,” Mr. Dutt said.
He added that in addition to collecting house tax online, the municipal corporations should also start manual door-to-door collection of taxes as many categories of people like senior citizens and the handicapped are unable to come out to file the taxes. Also, many are not technically savvy to pay taxes online.
In a letter to South Delhi Municipal Commissioner Gyanesh Bharti, Mr. Dutt requested him to give necessary orders to the departments/officials concerned to allow manual collection of house Tax, extend the tax filing date as has been done by the East Delhi Municipal Corporation, give tax relief to shopkeepers who are under financial stress due to pandemic-induced lockdowns.
Flash protest
Delhi Congress workers held a flash protest at ITO against Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal for his visits to Punjab to play politics, instead of attending to the problems in the Capital arising due to the pandemic. The party said that thousands of people had succumbed to COVID-19 in its second wave due to the Kejriwal government’s incompetence and inaction but the Chief Minister was touring Punjab.
DPCC president Ch. Anil Kumar said that when petrol and diesel prices were soaring, and people yet to recover from the blows that COVID-19 had dealt, Mr. Kejriwal was playing politics in other States like Punjab and Gujarat though people know that his “Delhi Model of Development” is a farce, created through public relation exercises at the expense of crores of rupees.
