New Delhi, May 20 (PTI) The Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) on Tuesday demanded the immediate withdrawal of user charges added to property tax bills by the BJP-led Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD) calling them an “unjust burden” imposed without approval from the House.
Addressing a press conference, AAP’s Delhi convener Saurabh Bharadwaj alleged that the MCD commissioner enforced these user charges meant for municipal solid waste management, without presenting the proposal in the House.
However, Delhi BJP president Virendra Sachdeva and MCD Mayor Raja Iqbal Singh on Tuesday announced deferment of the user charges and bringing about an amnesty scheme to settle old house tax dues.
“If your property tax is Rs 2,500, the user charge added is more than Rs 2,500 again. This is unacceptable,” he said.
MCD Leader of Opposition (LoP) Ankush Narayan said the user charges were never brought before the House despite being a revenue matter.
“We had the majority in the House then. If this had been brought for discussion, we would not have allowed it to pass. But the BJP, along with the commissioner, went ahead and imposed these charges,” he claimed.
He claimed that the waste collection system in Delhi is still inefficient, with concessionaires, whose job is to pick up garbage, failing to do so in 80 per cent of households.
“People are forced to pay private vendors and despite that, they are now being charged extra under the guise of user charges,” Narayan said.
The MCD LoP also said he wrote to the mayor on May 6 demanding the immediate removal of the charges but did not receive any response.
“We submitted a letter but we did not get any response. If they don’t respond to the elected opposition, what will they say to the common people?” he questioned.
Narayan accused the mayor of going back on earlier assurances.
“When Raja Iqbal became mayor, he said in his first speech that user charges would be removed immediately. But now, they’re pushing the matter to the standing committee,” he added.
He further added that during AAP’s earlier majority in the MCD, the House had passed a proposal to waive 100 per cent house tax for 900 sq ft properties, whether residential or commercial, and to reduce it by 50 per cent for 4,500 sq ft properties.
“But the user charges are higher than the tax itself are being collected,” he said.
The party said it would keep raising the issue both inside the House and on the streets until the charges are scrapped and the previously passed tax waivers are implemented. PTI SGV SHB SGV KSS KSS
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