Article by Hiral Vilas
There is lot of resistnance and protest against recent hike in property tax by Ahmedabad residents from Satellite, Jodhour and Thaltej areas jointly. The protest is supported by Congress too. Residents had gathered in large numbers at Town Hall and tried to carry a protest march, which was dispersed by Police.
Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation’s administrative wing is now exploring legal options to slash down the hike after seeing large scale protest. The hike was cleared in general body meeting and by standing commitee, for which now there is no legal option available to revert or to slash the tax hike. However, as per Section 8b of the Gujarat Provincial Municipal Corporation Act, hike is necessary after a span of every four years. As Municipal Elections are scheduled for early next year, senior BJP functionaries find the hike turning into a political hot potato and feared that it could adversely affect the party during elections. They rushed to the Municipal Commissioner earlier this week seeking a rollback.