Tax Payers Association to launch postcard campaign

Vijayawada: The city Tax Payers Association has called upon the people to express their protest against water tax proposal by sending postcards to the Municipal Commissioner.A The Association held a meeting with representatives of various colonies' associations at the commercial taxes colony here on Tuesday. All office bearers of the colonies' associations have attended and supported the decision to oppose water tax proposal and send letters to the Municipal Commissioner. Speaking on the occasion, the association president and secretary V Sambi Reddy and M V Anjaneyulu said that there was no provision for water tax in the Municipal Corporation Act. A They said that the Municipal Corporation water supply bylaw-1993 allows the civic administration only to fix meters on water supply for commercial purpose only. They accused the municipal officials of proposing water meters for domestic consumption against law.

They said that the civic body has linked water tax with house tax to increase water tax whenever the property tax is increased in future. They criticised the government for not releasing pending funds due to the local body, forcing the civic body to increase taxes and introduce new taxes to meet the financial crisis.Sambi Reddy said that the corporation officials were now saying that the water meters would be fixed to those who were paying more than Rs 1,500 towards property tax. However, he feared that the tax, once set in motion, would be extended to every family eventually. He asked the people to oppose the water tax and water meters proposal and express their protest by sending letters to the Municipal Commissioner.