Congress has demanded the Municipal Administration Minister K.T. Rama Rao to scrap the Land Regularisation Scheme (LRS), that would fetch thousands of crores to the government, rather than just waiving off 50% property tax in the municipalities.
“On one hand you snatch thousands of crores from people for no fault of theirs through the LRS and on the other hand you give a concession of few hundred crores with GHMC elections in mind,” AICC spokesperson Sravan Dasoju said at a press conference on Sunday. “It shows how insincere the TRS government is and that it functions only with elections in mind,” he said.
Claiming that property tax waiver was just a political gimmick of the TRS to influence the gullible voters of the city of Hyderabad, he urged the voters to realise the true colours of the TRS and defeat it in the upcoming GHMC elections.
Mr. Sravan said people have purchased open plots with their hard earned money. But, in the name of LRS the government is trying to levy a hefty penalty on the citizens by charging at least four to five times higher than the original purchase cost. “This will become a huge burden on the people of Telangana. Therefore, we demand the government to scrap this blood sucking LRS scheme before the GHMC elections itself,” he demanded.
He further asked KTR as to why can’t they extend the tax waiver benefit to all across the State as every section of the society has adversely suffered from COVID-19 pandemic. “Not just 50% reduction in property tax, it must be 100% waiver and should be extended to every section of the society,” he said. While welcoming the increase of salaries to municipal sanitation workers, the AICC spokesperson however questioned why it can't it extend the similar benefit by increasing salaries or incentives to all the frontline workers including the police and health workers.
The Congress leader also questioned the introduction of a new application form for the flood victims in Khairatabad circle. “Why should the flood victims have to apply again to receive their legitimate benefits from the government. You have said that the flood relief funds have already been distributed. If that is true, why are you again asking the people to submit the applications,? he asked.
