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Women protest in Srinagar against property tax
The protest against property tax, which was held at Ganpatyar area of Srinagar, created chaos prompting the police to intervene. “Do we have to submit taxes for our homes now? Was Article 370 revoked only for these policies,” said an elderly woman protester.
Scores of women protested against the Jammu and Kashmir administration and the central government in Srinagar on Wednesday against their policies, including the announcement of property tax, curtailment of ration at the depots and installation of smart meters in the union territory.
The women, raising slogans, claimed that the lives of the poor were becoming miserable because of new orders and announcements after revocation of Article 370.
The protest, which was held at Ganpatyar area of Srinagar, created chaos prompting the police to intervene. “Do we have to submit taxes for our homes now? Was Article 370 revoked only for these policies,” said an elderly woman protester.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration’s order on Tuesday to impose property tax in the UT from April has not gone down well with people and leaders of political parties who wanted the decision left to the elected government. The tax rates will be 5% of taxable annual value (TAV) for residential properties and 6% for commercial properties. Earlier, the government’s eviction drive from state land had caused a lot of anger across the UT prompting the officials to slow down the drive.
The people have also expressed resentment against curtailment in ration at the ration depots and also protested time and again in the last one year against installation of smart electricity meters.
Another woman protester said that the government was coming with new orders and policies day in and day out. “We are protesting against smart meters, curtailment in ration and price rise. Now they have made another announcement (of levying property tax). What they say, they do it. They announced that the properties of people will be taxed,” she said.
Another protester said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi should announce these policies in his home state, not here where people are facing a lot of poverty.
“We earn ₹200 a day, how will we afford these meters? Do we feed our children or pay (hike in) electricity bills? How can we afford ₹3,000-4,000 electricity bills? We are street vendors and the government does even allow street vendors. We don’t need free ration but we need the same amount of ration which we used to get earlier,” she said.
Job aspirants protest
Fire and emergency job aspirants protested in Srinagar on Wednesday demanding justice from the government.
The protesters were demanding the government to make public the investigation report into the allegations of irregularities in the selection process.
In December, the administration had constituted a three-member committee to look into alleged irregularities in the selection process of the fire and emergency department for which list was issued in 2020.
“The committee was given one month’s time to submit its report, but now two-and-a-half months have passed without any result,” said Khurshid Ahmad Parray, an aspirant.
