Plea to roll back property tax hike

The Federation of Tiruchi City Residents’ Welfare Associations has called for withdrawal of the increase in property tax and contended that any rise should be decided only by an elected civic body.

“It will be only proper to implement an increase in property tax after a discussion by an elected council of the Corporation. Hence, the unilateral announcement to increase the property tax should be withdrawn,” said organisers S. Sakthivel and S. Subramaniyan, speaking on behalf of the federation to the media here on Saturday.

They described the delay in conducting local body elections as “anti-democratic.” The State Election Commission had wasted two years under the pretext of delimitation of wards while the State government remained a mute spectator. This would only ruin local administration. It was wrong to burden the people instead of getting funds from the Centre after conducting the local body elections, they said.

The federation also urged the government to exempt houses, which had already been built in unapproved layouts and assessed for property tax by the Corporation, from the ambit of the one-time scheme for regularisation of unapproved layouts. “Owners of houses who are already paying property tax regularly to the Corporation should be exempted from having to get their plots regularised as it entails payment of huge sums as development and regularisation charges. Many retired persons are unable to pay such big sums,” they said.

The forum also called upon the Corporation to take steps to prevent flow of sewage into Uyyakondan canal and other waterbodies and establish the proposed integrated bus stand at the earliest. While welcoming decentralisation of processing of solid waste, the federation, however, demanded that the micro compost yards be located away from residential areas.

The newly-formed federation seeks to bring together all residents’ welfare associations under a single umbrella and so far about 75 associations were part of it, according to the organisers.

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