HYDERABAD: Questioning the state government’s intention behind the proposed Core Urban Region Economy Act (CURE Act) as well as the Indiramma Housing Scheme, state BJP president N Ramchander Rao on Tuesday alleged that the ruling Congress has “opened floodgates to extort the poor and middle class people living in and around Hyderabad in the name of taxes and deposits”.
Addressing the media at the party office here, Ramchander said that the BJP has no objection to making necessary amendments to the 1955 Municipal Act to serve people. “But key provisions within the CURE Act are designed to squeeze the public dry,” he said, while criticising the inclusion of provisions to increase taxes up to 5 per cent annually based on registration values without a scientific taxation policy and called it an “outright tax extortion”.
“The Congress government is placing an additional burden on the people by imposing taxes under the guise of CURE Act,” he added.
The state BJP chief also alleged that attempts are being made to separate water and sewerage services to levy separate taxes, which would put an additional financial burden on the public.
Ramchander said that unilaterally pushing this legislation without consulting key stakeholders, such as Resident Welfare Associations and the general public, is improper and deplorable.
‘Cong conspiracy to collect Rs 1,000 cr from poor people’
On the Indiramma Housing Scheme, he said: “This initiative is not aimed at ensuring the welfare of the poor but is just another scheme started for financial exploitation.”
“When there are lakhs of eligible applicants across 24 constituencies, issuing a notification for only 7,680 flats and collecting a Rs 100 application fee along with an EMD deposit of Rs 10,000 from each applicant is highly unjust,” he added.
The BJP leader termed the process as a conspiracy to collect nearly Rs 1,000 crore from the poor, recalling the deposit exploitation carried out by the previous BRS government under the guise of sheep distribution.
