Water tax hike to be reviewed

Statesman News Service

MALDA, Nov. 3: The English Bazaar civic body chief has agreed to review the hike in water tax imposed in commercial establishments according to the proposal of the Malda Merchants’ Chamber of Commerce. MMCC secretary Mr Jayanta Kundu yesterday met the chairman of the civic body, Mr Narendranath Tiwari and discussed the matter again.It may be noted that the Congress-led civic body recently hiked the water tax based on earlier rate fixed by the Trinamul-BJP-led board for commercial establishments and planned to hike water tax for domestic purposes also. During the discussion, Mr Tiwari told Mr Kundu that the MMCC’s proposals for imposition of water tax for commercial establishments was raised before the board of councillors’ meeting and the body would adopt a resolution in the next meeting. Mr Kundu urged the civic body chief to consider the small traders for exemption of water tax based on old rate fixed by the CPI-M-led board. “ There should be a classification among traders and consumers on the basis of volume of water used per day before fixing water tax when there is no system water meter for the payment of water tax,” Mr Kundu said. “ The civic board can’t claim same rate from big and small hotel owners, he said. The MMCC has proposed that small sweet shops and hotels would pay Rs. 75 per month for water tax but the big hotels must pay Rs 150 and above per month. On the other hand, the MMCC has also approached the civic body to reconsider the tax on hoardings. The MMCC secretary claimed that the present civic body has increased its tax rate 300 times. It was also learnt that the civic body would also final the tax rate after the discussion with the representatives of the MMCC. The civic body chief, Mr Narendranath Tiwari, earlier told the reporters that the old rate on hoarding, was still on and that the rate must be revised properly with a view to earn revenue of the municipality.