Council revokes 7% annual hike in water charge

Many resolutions passed without discussion

The city municipal council on Friday unanimously passed a resolution revoking the 7% annual hike in water charges imposed on the citizens during special officer rule in April 2013.

The move, before the coming general and municipal elections, was proposed by TDP co-opted member S. Nagendra Reddy, YSRCP floor leader B. Punyaseela and CPI(M) floor leader G. Adilakshmi, who cited increasing burden on the taxpayers.

Earlier in August 2014, the order was revoked by the same council but has not been implemented, and the government continued to increase 7% water tax annually. Mayor Koneru Sreedhar asked Municipal Commissioner J. Nivas to implement the resolution from January 2019 without fail.

In the general body meeting, probably the last for the present council, many resolutions were passed without any discussion at the behest of the Council chairman Mr. Sreedhar, who apparently convinced the Opposition members that the proposals by members be honoured as they could be their last wishes for the current term.

A major part of the agenda included the naming of parks and streets in the city, and other resolutions were passed. Also, members to 11 committees including finance and audit, water supply and UGD, education and cultural, sports and traffic were elected.

Parking fees

The council unanimously opposed high parking fees being charged by the new firm that took over all the parking spaces under smart parking initiative at a cost of ₹2.25 crore. Mr. Sreedhar said he was left helpless when he had to pay ₹30 for car parking. Mr. Nivas told the council that the parking fees was on a par with the fees being charged by private parking spaces anywhere in the State.

On the other hand, senior corporator M. Venkateswara Rao highlighted the issues of road congestion due to wrong parking on busy roads. Corporators N. Balaswamy, D. Aparna and others also complained that many traders and vehicle owners in their areas were encroaching roads to run their businesses and parked heavy vehicles since years. Mr. Sreedhar said several requests were made to the Commissioner of Police to tackle wrong parking menace and VMC offered towing vehicle and place to park the impounded vehicles.

The council also passed a resolution seeking submission of report on irregularities in use of Krishna Pushkaralu funds in 2016 being probed by a three-member committee in the coming 10 days. Ms. Punyaseela demanded that the Mayor present the reports before the council.