Will property tax be reduced?

Feb. 24: A bounty of smooth roads, a possible scale-down in property tax and exemption benefits for senior citizens are the goody bags with which the Tarun Gogoi government will try to woo its city vote bank.

Since the hike in property tax had caused much furore, the government decided to begin with that first.

A source said the Guwahati Municipal Corporation has already sent a proposal to the Guwahati development department (GDD) to ensure some relief for senior citizens.

GDD minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the source said, would soon make a formal announcement to this effect to appease the elderly who constitute a sizeable number in the prestigious Guwahati parliamentary constituency.

“The GMC has been facing mounting criticism and pressure from various groups for increasing the property tax. A majority of citizens feels that the civic body has no right to hike the tax rate as it has failed to provide basic civic amenities. Save Guwahati Build Guwahati and Guwahati Mahanagar Unnayan Samiti even threatened to boycott the Congress if the decision to increase property tax was not withdrawn,” the source said.

Apart from exempting senior citizens, sources said the government was considering reducing the percentage of hike in the property tax rate in general.

The GMC has also decided to repair and construct 95 city roads, which are yet to be included in the road development schemes of the PWD and National Building Construction Corporation Ltd.

“Most of these roads are in Dispur, West Guwahati and East Guwahati Assembly constituencies and are completely dilapidated. The government has already allocated Rs 16 crore to the GMC and the corporation will use a lion’s share of the amount to repair the roads,” the source said.

GMC chief administrator Robin Bordoloi said the civic body would also take up effective short-term schemes to solve the drinking water crisis in different parts of the city.

He said the corporation has already begun a project to repair the water pipe network and plug leaks in various areas.

“We are trying to create other sources of drinking water by installing tubewells and digging wells in areas not covered under by the piped network,” Bordoloi said.

A source said the next cabinet meeting, scheduled later this month, will approve the final masterplan for Guwahati Metropolitan Area: 2025.

The new masterplan will be published before the model code of conduct of the parliamentary election comes into force.