Jharia and Katras are on the boil against Dhanbad Municipal Corporation (DMC) for its ongoing publicity drive asking people to pay property/holding tax to the civic body from next month.
People of the two circles - the rest three under DMC being Dhanbad, Sindri and Chatatand - say they won't pay "double tax" citing two reasons. One, they say they pay holding charges (cess) for water services to Mineral Area Development Authority (Mada). Two, they allege they get no civic services worth mentioning from DMC to pay it holding/property tax.
Protests in Jharia and Katras are fuelled by the campaign carried out by DMC-outsourced agency Ritika Printech, asking people to submit self-assessment forms by January 31 in order to start paying holding/property tax under Jharkhand Municipal Property Tax (Assessment, Collection and Recovery) Rule 2013 and amended rules of 2015.
But, the premise of the protests is factually incorrect, said DMC and Mada officials say.
What Katras and Jharia residents pay Mada is holding cess for water, shulk in Hindi. What DMC is asking is holding/property tax, kar in Hindi.
DMC chief executive officer Manoj Kumar Singh rubbished any overlap between the civic body and Mada. "Mada supplies water in Jharia and Katras, so asks for holding cess on water service from these residents. Our campaign is for holding/property tax. I think people are confused with the word 'holding'. But one is a charge and the other is a tax. People should clear their doubts," Kumar said.
Agreeing with Singh, Mada MD Dharnidhar Mandal said holding charges on water services in Jharia and Katras were very nominal, ranging from Rs 100 to 200 every quarter. "People should not confuse it with property tax," he said.
But protests against "double tax" continue. On Tuesday, a new forum Koylanchal Nagrik Manch carried out Gandhigiri against the municipal campaign for tax. Manch members offered roses to DMC tax collector Balkishan Gupta in Jharia, requesting him not to collect holding tax. Women in Jharia forced the campaign vehicle for DMC to go back.
