AAP claims North MCD to propose hike in property tax, BJP refutes charges

The AAP on Tuesday claimed that the BJP-ruled North Delhi Municipal Corporation is bringing a proposal to increase residential property tax by 34 per cent, a charge refuted by the saffron party.

Addressing a press conference, AAP spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj claimed that BJP-ruled municipal corporations are forgoing parking fee collected in its municipal areas from contractors.

"At one side, the BJP-ruled MCD has doubled commercial property tax and on the other side, they are bringing schemes to give illegal favours to the contractors who are their favourite and partners in corruption," he alleged.

"Today, the agenda of the standing committee states that residential property tax will be increased by 34 per cent for all the citizens," Bhardwaj claimed.

He said instead of giving any relief to the residents of Delhi in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic, the BJP-ruled municipal corporations have "arbitrarily increased the property tax".

Responding to the AAP's claims, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said none of the three municipal corporations have raised property tax rates for the general public or even traders during the current financial year, only commercial rental properties tax was slightly raised as directed by the Municipal Valuation Committee.

"Yesterday only Saurabh Bhardwaj had himself asked why were MCDs not increasing tax and keeping checks on commercially rented properties. Surprisingly, today he is objecting to the same," he said in a statement.

"The waiver given to advertising agencies and parking contractors is as per the central government policy to allow relief to government contractors for four months lockdown period. Even the Delhi government has allowed similar relief to several categories of traders," he added.