MADURAI: Alleging that the garbage tax is exponentially higher and that it has been made mandatory for traders to avail of licence for shops, traders associated with the Madurai city south zone all traders federation said they have decided to stage a hunger strike in the district.
While speaking, the president of the traders federation R Ponraj said, "There are thousands of traders in the city running smaller provisional shops and sweet shops. These traders have been paying taxes and charges for running these shops. Around three years back, under the Solid Waste Management Act, an additional garbage tax, which according to the Act is mandatory to avail of the licenses for shops, was imposed on the traders. Failure to pay the tax will lead to legal action as per the Act."
He further said, "This garbage tax is ten times more than the licence cost. These shopkeepers hardly make enough money for themselves and many of them are struggling to pay rent for these shops. In this context, imposing a garbage tax will increase the burden on them, which may even force many traders to give up on their business. Such taxes are not imposed in Chennai."
Stating that despite submitting many petitions no actions have been taken to resolve the issue, Ponraj said the traders along with their families have decided to stage a hunger strike along, demanding the corporation to provide full exemption from the garbage tax."