BJP members say move will lead to hike in taxes

Protesting the Delhi Cabinet’s decision regarding division of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in the civic body say the move will end up burdening the people of Delhi, as it will lead to an increase in taxes. HT reports.

Protesting the Delhi Cabinet’s decision regarding division of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi (MCD), Bharatiya Janata Party leaders in the civic body say the move will end up burdening the people of Delhi, as it will lead to an increase in taxes.

HT Image

Subhash Arya, Leader of the MCD House said that with the constitution of five corporations instead of one, there will be a manifold increase in expenditure and MCD will be forced to increase taxes in order to meet the added expenses.

“There are some areas like Najafgarh and Narela where MCD gets very less property tax, but the same is balanced by recovery from other areas from where they get a good amount of property tax,” said Arya.

“MCD being one Corporation at present, it hardly affects us whether we get less revenue from one area and more from another. If we divide the Corporation, the income will also be restricted to that particular Corporation, affecting the city’s uniform development,” Arya added.

He further said that the move to divide the MCD has more to do with it being politically-motivated and is less about benefit of the people.

“The division may look very appealing on paper but ground realities have not been taken into consideration. There will be a lot of chaos and it will take long for people to get their problems redressed as there will be multiple agencies,” he added.

MCD councillors argued that they are not against the decentralisation of power provided that it is done in favour of the public. “If we think in practical terms, MCD should be divided into 14 zones instead of 12 for better maintenance and each zone should be strengthened,” Arya said.

“By this, we will have two zonal offices under each Parliamentary constituency. These zonal offices should be strengthened administratively and economically,” he added.

Yogender Chandolia, Chairman of MCD’s Standing Committee, said dividing it into more than 400 wards would result in more independent candidates, not be answerable to any political party, hence leading to more corruption.

BJP state president Vijendra Gupta also termed the decision of the government as politically-motivated.

“This is an act of revenge on part of the Congress. The Delhi government is not interested in the development of Delhi and providing amenities,” he said.