SRINAGAR: The move of the administration to impose property tax on residential and commercial establishments from April 1 has drawn protests and criticism from political parties, different groups and also residents of J&K. Cutting across party lines, the political parties unequivocally rejected it, saying any such a move should have come through an elected government.
The Mission Statehood Jammu Kashmir, a local organisation, held a protest in Jammu. Its president Sunil Dimple burnt effigies of the BJP and the Central Government. The Jammu and Kashmir High Court Bar Association has also called for one-day suspension of work against the decision of the administration to impose property tax.
Jammu MC Mayor Rajinder Sharma said levying property tax was the administration’s decision, not of the local body. “There will be a special House meeting after two days. The decision of the councillors will be informed to the L-G. In case the councillors are against the property tax, we will tell that the people of Jammu are not ready for this tax,” Sharma said.
Srinagar Deputy Mayor Parvaiz Qadri urged the people not to panic, saying the proposal would be rejected. “People need to understand that the Srinagar MC must first pass the proposal. We are rejecting it even before its arrival. It won’t get the consent of corporators. People should not panic,” he said.
Former chief minister Omar Abdullah said, “Why should people of Jammu and Kashmir pay taxes when we have no say in how the government is run and no say in the decision-making.”
Rattan Lal Gupta, provincial president of the NC, termed it as ‘jazia’ on the common people.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said the move to impose tax was a part of the BJP’s larger agenda of impoverishing the people of the Union Territory.
CPM leader Mohamad Yousuf Tarigami said levying property tax in absence of an elected government was quite unconstitutional. The J&K Congress said property tax was a new “tool of stealing money” from the people.
A former finance department official said, “It should have been done by the municipality. I am astonished why the government came up with the property tax without any public participation or debate on it.”
A government spokesperson said the new property tax policy would help municipal bodies generate revenue for better municipal services with minimum tax implications to residents.
Meanwhile, Apni Party’s senior vice president Ghulam Hassan Mir said the issue should be left to an elected government.
Shakeel Qalander, former president of the Federation of Chamber of Industries Kashmir, said, “People are living hand to mouth here. It is unfathomable how the administration came with such a harsh decision.”
Elected governments have in the past attempted to impose property tax in J&K but had to shelve it due to public backlash. In 2010, the NC-Congress government proposed property tax but had to roll back the decision after facing public criticism.