BMC standing committee passes proposal on property tax waiver for Mumbai hotels used to house Covid-19 frontline staff

Amid opposition from all political parties including the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Sena-headed

Amid opposition from all political parties including the Congress, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), Samajwadi Party and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Shiv Sena-headed standing committee of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Wednesday passed a proposal to give exemption in property tax to 182 hotels where frontline staff were stationed during the lockdown.

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According to the proposal, BMC’s health department will pay ₹22-crore tax of 182 hotels to the property tax department. The BMC said the exemption is a kindness package.

However, all other political parties opposed the move, citing that of the 182 hotels, many have defaulted on their property tax payments, and hence should not be given any relief.

Ravi Raja, leader of opposition from the Congress and standing committee chairman, said, “The Shiv Sena corporator Vishaka Raut had also proposed referring back the proposal, but withdrew her request later. Why should we give exemption to hotels that have defaulted on property tax?”

Asif Zakaria, Congress corporator and standing committee member, said, “The BMC is already facing a financial crunch, and should not be giving relief selectively. Even hospitals and nursing homes have contributed towards the fight against Covid-19, so why pick only hotels?”

Zakaria pointed out that hotels had charged the civic body a fixed rate to house frontline workers. “It was not that the hotels gave anything for free. So why give exemption only to them?” he added.

The BMC, on the other hand, maintained that the decision was being taken as hotels helped out during the lockdown. “This is our way of saying thank you. They helped us when we needed space to house our staff and doctors, and people arriving from other countries,” municipal commissioner Iqbal Singh Chahal had said earlier.

Bhalchandra Shirsat BJP corporator and standing committee member, said, “We all opposed it. Even the Shiv Sena initially requested to refer back the proposal, but later passed it. BMC should give exemptions to the common man, not to hotels.”

Yashwant Jadhav, Shiv Sena corporator and standing committee chairman, said, “I have passed the proposal after taking voting from all parties based on majority voting in favour of it.”

The standing committee kept back a proposal to appoint Veermata Jijabai Technological Institute (VJTI) and College Of Engineering, Pune and Sardar Patel College of Engineering and Certification Engineers International Limited as third party auditors to proof-check road construction work in the city.

“Earlier, private companies used to do third-party audits, and we used to get poor results. Now, the institutes are engineering colleges are renowned. However, all parties opposed the same,” said Shirsat.

Rais Shaikh, Samajwadi Party corporator and standing committee member, said, “I opposed it considering the responsibility should be on the engineers of the BMC. In the past, when wrongdoings were found, engineers blamed auditors. Hence, all responsibility should be on engineers.”