JOIN USSelf-assessment of property tax will be hiked by 0.5 pc, says Council
After a lot of confusion and argument from 11 am till 1 pm, the members came to a consensus on the issues.
Commissioner R Shalini brought up the issue, which was the seventh item on the agenda for the meeting. She said the government circular says tax can by increased from 15 to 30 per cent. “The current tax rate can therefore be reviewed.”
Opposing the idea, several members said hiking the tax to such an extent would put a lot of pressure on the citizens. Many therefore suggested an increase within five per cent. In the backdrop of opinion that even this would be too high, the members finally agreed for a hike by 0.5 per cent.
Chaos
The meeting, which had up to 35 agendas, started on a rough note.
V K Rajesh, member of the Council, accused Babajan, husband of president Nazia of interfering in the work of the Council and even trying to order staff about. “This should first be stopped and such matter should be mentioned in the behavioural record,” he urged.
Reacting, Nazia said the latter measure was unnecessary as it was already mentioned in the government orders. When she insisted that the members start discussing the issues in the agenda, some members of the Varthur faction objected, which, in turn, created dissatisfaction among rival members, finally leading to a lot of argument and chaos.
Members Ravindra, Jaffer and Naseer Ahmed, approached the president's table and demanded that the issues in the agenda be taken up first. “Decisions on them will follow discussions. We shall look into other matter only after,” they urged.
When not much attention was paid to their demands, the only got angrier and, banging the table, shouted that they be given opportunity to put forth problems in their respective wards.
The ruckus only pushed other members to mention the problems in their areas and the auditorium was filled with speakers, but no listeners.
In the midst of all such noise, however, member Madhusudan Kumar still objected that a decision had been taken last meeting to install mikes for speakers, but the decision was not implemented yet.
Initiative
As all members were busy talking out things other than in the agenda, Jaffer cleared his throat loudly, silencing everybody at one go.
The talk finally shifted to discussion on water problems in the city.
Vice-president Khalil, standing committee president R Raghu were also present.
