SDMC brought proposal to hike property tax, says AAP

New Delhi: The AAP claimed on Tuesday that the BJP-ruled South Delhi Municipal Corporation has brought a proposal to hike the property tax by 34 per cent, a claim denied by the saffron party.

Addressing a press conference, Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) spokesperson Saurabh Bhardwaj said, "The BJP-ruled MCD waived six months' licence fee for outdoor advertisement contractors and it is now making up for the loss from residents".

"The BJP-ruled SDMC has brought a proposal to hike the property tax by 34 per cent. The Kejriwal government reduced circle rates by 20 per cent while the BJP-ruled MCD increases property taxes by 34 per cent," he said. Bhardwaj said the BJP government has "massively" increased the prices of diesel, petrol and LPG in the last several days and claimed that the AAP govt has not hiked any tax in the last seven years.

Hitting back, Delhi BJP spokesperson Praveen Shankar Kapoor said it seems "in his malafide anxiety to level charges against MCDs, AAP leader Bhardwaj does not even cross-check facts before speaking".

"Today, at a press conference, Saurabh Bhardwaj has alleged that South DMC is raising House Tax in its area and a proposal to this effect is coming in the House meeting today. The allegation is totally false as the SDMC Standing Committee has already long back rejected the proposal of the Commissioner to raise House Tax," he said in a statement.

However, SDMC Standing Committee Chairman Rajdutt Gahlot issued a statement denying any such move to raise property taxes. He said, "The proposal to increase House Tax has been rejected by the Standing Committee earlier hence no question of any hike so far arises." The South MCD went on to allege that the Aam Aadmi Party was creating confusion with "wrong facts" for political points in next year's civic body polls here.

Gahlot specified that the SDMC had categorically stated that taxes will not be raised during Budget finalisation and had rejected a proposal for raising them in a March Standing Committee meeting.