VIJAYAWADA: Mayor Koneru Sridhar confirmed that there will not be any increase in house taxes, water taxes etc. for the next one and half year, until TDP government is ruling. He also said that the taxes which were increased during the tenure of Congress party will also be reduced after discussion with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu.
Addressing a press conference on Friday, Mayor Koneru Sridhar said that Vijayawada is developing into a modern city and the State government is taking all necessary steps to make it one of the best cities in the country.
The government has not introduced a hike in the taxes for the past four years, he said. There is going to be no increase in taxes in the future too, he said. He alleged that the opposition parties were trying to mislead the public by levelling baseless and false allegations against them, saying they had increased taxes. He added that the road, drainage, water supply and other basic amenities were developed by VMC for the past four years and refuted allegations of the opposition parties.
“The Congress government increased the water cess by 7 per cent every year and hiked other taxes too. We have sent a proposal to Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu to reduce the taxes that were increased in the Congress’ tenure. For the past four years, almost Rs 22,000 crores were spent. Earlier, VMC’s financial condition was bad and it even failed to pay salaries. Now we have overcome all major hurdles and have cleared a big chunk of debts,” he added.