Howrah tax hike pushes Left on back foot

HOWRAH: The decision to hike municipal taxes for home owners has pushed the Left on the back foot in the Howrah Municipal Corportation (HMC). This could not have come at a better time for the opposition Trinamool. Dipali Chowdhury, a home-owner, filed a complaint on it before a Howrah court.
Property assessment, decided on a General Review (GR), in the Howrah civic area has not been evaluated after 1994.Reports of the three private agencies appointed by HMC pointed out several discrepancies since the last evaluation. Trouble started when the re-evaluated quarterly tax statements started reaching the households.
Arun Roy Chowdhury, opposition leader in HMC, said that taxes had been imposed on flawed and arbitrary assumptions. "What was the criteria of the GR? Who are these private agencies? Why weren't people asked to present their cases? Suddenly, somebody decides to hike taxes and this is implemented." "An enquiry should be held to bring the guilty to book. The real reason is that the CPM-led board has emptied HMC's coffers. This is an act of desperation," he said. The opposition on Friday boycotted the monthly municipal session on it.
Howrah mayor Mamata Jaiswal said taxes had been increased in some cases after a General Review. "There is nothing illegal in this. If someone feels their tax was increased improperly, they can approach us for a review. In some cases where the grievances were genuine, the tax rates were rectified," she said. Biplab Majumder, CPM's Howrah district secretary, admitted that raising taxes before polls needed to be explained.
HMC has 50 wards. Wards one to 44 are considered general wards while the rest are added areas. The increase in taxes has affected all. Based on the 1994 assessment, there should only be 98,000 homes (or holdings in municipality parlance). This isn't a reality. Also, as some quarters quarters allege, civic amenities in Howrah have taken a back seat. In this backdrop, the increase in tax four to ten times in some instances has created anguish among residents.
Take the example of Chittaranjan Nandi. He stays in Thakurdas Dutta second bylane; ward number 9. All these years, Nandi has been paying a tax of `81. Now, he has to pay ` 326. Laxman Seth, of Panchanantala's ward number 18, has received his tax bills which is a whopping six times more. In ward number 44, Sri Aurobindo Nagrik Unnayan Committee, a residents' body, has given a call for poll boycott. "The issue here is the Shastri Narendranath Ganguly Road which has not been repaired despite several complains. Without this road, we will not vote," said Arun Basu, the committee secretary.
Ashish Basu, Trinamool councillor and former chairman of Municipal Accounts Committee said: "The civic amenities are hardly there and yet taxes are being raised. But where taxes ought to have been increased, such as illegal high-rises, they are turning a blind eye. General people are being affected."