VISAKHAPATNAM: The second meeting of the Greater Visakhapatnam Municipal Corporation (GVMC) Council scheduled to be held on Wednesday is likely to be stormy as Corporators belonging to opposition parties are gearing up to raise the issues pertaining to property tax revision based on land value and the imposition of garbage cess. Floor leaders of TDP, Jana Sena, CPI and CPM felt that the elected council body was not taken into confidence before issuing a notification on property tax revision.
Speaking to TNIE, CPM floor leader B Ganga Rao said all floor leaders in GVMC barring BJP and YSRC submitted a joint resolution to the Mayor and the Commissioner demanding inclusion of property tax in the agenda. Ganga Rao informed that immediately after the question hour they would raise the twin issues and demand discussion on property tax and garbage cess. He said there will be floor coordination among opposition parties in the council and that they would stall the proceedings if necessary. He added, the members were ready for suspension and will not let the ruling party go with its lengthy agenda set for the meeting. He noted that it was highly ridiculous to have 136 agenda items for a single day meeting.
He said they have urged the Mayor to extend the meeting by another day to discuss the issues on the agenda. If the issues are passed without any debate it was a mockery of democracy, he added.Jana Sena floor leader in the council, Peethala Murthy Yadav said, sparks will fly at the council meeting as there will be heated arguments over property tax. He added that the council was ignored when the notification was issued. He stated that the notification should have been issued only after it was discussed in the council. Referring to property tax, he noted that it was highly objectionable to revise the property tax based on value when people were reeling under the pandemic. He said proposals should have been made for garbage tax before taking a decision of collecting `120 as tax from each house.
He said they questioned the Mayor for inclusion of proposals made by a non-member of the council in the agenda. The decision of officials to include them in the agenda was unprecedented and illegal, he added.
CPI Corporator and party floor leader AJ Stalin said, the council cannot be a mere rubber stamp. It should be allowed to function as per democratic norms and decisions should be taken only after thorough debate and approval, he added.
Meanwhile, YSRC corporators reportedly held a shadow meeting to counter the opposition’s strategy in the upcoming council meet. Some members are in a fix as they fear they will incur people’s wrath if they support the revision of property tax. GVMC authorities initially proposed 125 items to the agenda for the June 23 council meeting. Later, they issued a supplementary agenda with another 11 items.