Mangaluru: After a series of criticisms from the BJP and veteran Congress leader Janardhan Poojary on the Mangaluru City Corporation’s decision of increasing property tax by 15 percent, MCC Mayor K Harinath still claims that the tax rate increase is imminent. Speaking to the media at his office, he said that the state government has made this move mandatory in order to receive developmental funding.
“The 15 percent increase in property tax is inevitable as the state government has directed the MCC to make this move. Property tax should be increased once in three years as per the state government rules. We are entitled to hike the tax upto 30 percent but the MCC is just going to the extent of 15 percent”, Mayor Harinath said.
After losing his cool for a bit as he spoke about the BJP’s criticisms on the hike, he said, “The BJP had tried to implement this hike in tax during their administration in 2008. Instead of raising their voice against the Congress led the MCC, they should look back into the past and see where they stood regarding this matter.”
“On 1 April, 2008, the BJP led MCC had introduced property tax. If they had not implemented this tax, it would not be mandatory for us to increase the self-assessment scheme (SAS) of property tax. If MCC does not go ahead with the increase in this tax, state government will not grant funds for developmental projects”, he mentioned.
As Janardhan Poojary had earlier mentioned that in it’s election manifesto, Congress had promised not to hike the tax rates for five years. When asked about this matter, Harinath stood his ground and said that the grants which are required the most for Mangalore’s development will not be released by state government unless this tax hike is implemented.
New vented dam in Thumbay to meet MCC’s water demands till June
Speaking about the probable drinking water shortage in the coming summer, Harinath said that there will not be any problem of such kind as the storage of water in the new vented dam in Thumbay has crossed five meters and several acres of banks have gone underwater. “The water flow into this dam will be stopped by January end and the stored water will be able to meet the demand of MCC’s water requirements till the end of June”, he added.
